Zurich insists reduced platform charges are about simplifying prices not about coming in line with competitors.
Zurich announced today that it has decreased the number of charging tiers on the platform from five to four and is lowering its starting charge from 0.45 per cent to 0.35 per cent.
The change means a price reduction for every investor regardless of the size of their investment, the firm said.
However, Aviva and Nucleus said the changes by Zurich represent the firm coming in line with the rest of the market.
Phil Ralli, head of platform proposition at Aviva, said: “We start at 25 basis points for an Isa and Zurich are just coming into line with the market by reducing their fees.
“We keep market pricing and charging constantly under review, but will not be responding to this move.”
Nucleus said it has already undertaken an exercise to reduce their fees towards the end of last year, which was effective from 1 November.
A spokesperson for the firm said: “We have been the vanguard of making fees appropriate and 35 basis points represents our standard charges.
“Zurich is coming into line with our pricing structure.
“Our pricing structure is not under review at the moment since we completed the cycle of pricing changes at the end of last year.”
Axa Wealth said they have no further plans to change their pricing structure following the changes they made at the end of 2012.
Nick Lee, head of strategic partnerships at Axa Wealth, said: “Having led the way in reducing platform charges at the end of 2012 and recently reducing our charges for larger portfolios we have no further plans at present to change our charges further.”
Paul Boston, sales director at Novia, added there seems to have been “a really unhealth focus on price, with Zurich the difference in price is in single digit basis points”.
He said: “We are not going to reduce our price. We think it is a fair price for functionality that we bring which enables advisers to make full use of clients tax allowances easily.
“Tax on investments has by far the biggest impact on client returns because we are talking in thousands of basis points rather than single digits.”
However, Alistair Wilson, head of retail platform strategy at Zurich, said the new charges are about offering customers a straightforward pricing structure.
He said: “It is important when applying a price reduction that all our customers benefit. We are delighted to be able to offer a straightforward pricing structure to them and we would echo the calls from the adviser community for simplicity on costs.
“This announcement is a further example of our commitment to offering simple and easy-to-understand solutions that help make doing business with Zurich easier.”
