Skandia recently found that clean fee share classes are on average 6 basis points more expensive than their bundled counterparts, and said it would negotiate preferential rates to mitigate this.
James Hay Partnership, which had previously promised not to switch clients unless they would be paying less in the unbundled share class, claimed one in three clean funds were more expensive than their bundled versions.
Stephen Wynne-Jones, head of marketing for Cofunds, said that the platform would go ahead with conversions even where the total cost of investing in clean share classes would be more expensive. However,. Mr Wynne-Jones said it will not bulk-convert clients. Instead the platform will make the switch only when explicitly instructed by an adviser.
Raymond James will also refrain from forcing wealth managers to convert clients, instead allowing them to wait until it is in the clients’ best interest to do so.
