Bestinvest has removed a number of its self-invested personal pension charges as part of a wider fee restructure.
The company announced the changes on its website, saying it wants clients' money to "work as hard as you do".
The changes will take place between February and March this year and includes the removal of a lot of its Sipp charges.
Sipp fee changes
Fee | Before (Sipps below £100,000) | After |
Sipp admin fee | £100 + VAT | No charge |
Initial calculation fee | £100 + VAT | No charge |
Annual charge for income payments after tax free cash | £100 + VAT | No charge |
Ad hoc income payments | £25 + VAT | No charge |
Annuity purchase through Bestinvest | £75 + VAT | No charge |
Annuity purchase (external) | £150 + VAT | No charge |
Refund of overpaid contributions | £75 + VAT | No charge |
Drawdown valuation | £3 per line of stock | No charge |
Closure fees | £175 | No charge |
Source: Bestinvest
The investment platform has also dropped charges on its ready-made portfolios, trading fees and advice fees.
It has simplified its service to be tiered down from 0.4 per cent of invested assets for all account types, and has introduced dedicated pricing for its ready-made portfolios.
Ready-made portfolio costs
Account value | Before | After |
Up to £250,000 | 0.4% | 0.2% |
£250,000 - £500,000 | 0.2% | 0.2% |
£500,000 - £1mn | 0.2% | 0.1% |
Over £1mn | No charge | No charge |
Source: Bestinvest
A spokesperson for Bestinvest said the new account fee of 0.2 per cent for holding ready-made portfolios means that the range is one of the cheapest options of its kind on the market..
Trading fees
Fee | Before | After |
Online dealing fees (shares) | £7.50 | £4.95 |
Online dealing fees (funds) | No charge | No charge |
High-value dealing fee (equity trade over £100,00) | £75 | £4.95 |
Telephone transaction | £75 | £30 |
Source: Bestinvest
"With ongoing fund fees at 0.34-0.37 per cent, the total cost of holding these comes in at about 0.55 per cent and that is less than the cost of most robo-advisers and digital investing apps," they said.
"Meanwhile, the new share trading fee of £4.95 (down from £7.50) is the lowest share dealing fee among the major UK online investment platforms, and a whole range of ad hoc Sipp fees have been abolished," they added.
Back in January, Bestinvest announced it would offer “bite-sized” advice packages as part of its relaunch to better cater to self-directed investors.
The investment platform said it would offer two on-demand advice services with one-off fees, which will be delivered by the platform’s own investment advisers.
For more complex or specialist cases, Bestinvest - which is owned by Tilney, Smith & Williamson - will refer clients to its parent, which manages £56bn of assets.
sally.hickey@ft.com
