FundsNetwork has sided with Skandia in the debate over switching off trail commissions and rebates by converting funds in bulk to unbundled shares.
A spokesperson for the platform said: “We have no plans to switch off trail commission. However, we have seen a significant number of advisers move to fees already and we expect the majority of assets to have been converted by [2016].”
Platforms are split as to how to manage the move away from bundled share classes. They must wean themselves off fund manager kickbacks - funded through standard pre-RDR bundled shares - but in converting investors in bulk Skandia and Nucleus have warned that investors may be worse off.
Ascentric, Alliance Trust Savings, Novia and Standard Life have all begun the process of informing investors that they will convert their funds to unbundled, or ‘clean fee’, shares in the coming months, switching off trail commission for advisers in the process, in spite of the change not being an advised event.
