In a 63-page paper, the Investment Association (IA) has laid out detailed new structures for fee disclosure across all types of investment product, in what it describes as a “significant step forward” for transparency.
The consultation follows months of rampant criticism of the industry for failing to make the true costs of investing clear to savers, with certain charges such as transaction costs said to have been hidden from view.
The paper has also been pushed out amid the FCA’s ongoing Market Study of Asset Management, which has already made severe public criticisms of the industry’s treatment of its clients including the management and disclosure of costs.
The new disclosure framework aims to solve the transparency debate while also providing a blueprint for compliance with future regulatory developments within Mifid II and Priips.
However, an interim report also issued today by an Advisory Board of experts guiding the IA’s work suggests there may be further distance to travel before criticisms of the industry are silenced.
The IA’s framework is designed to provide detailed information to professional client representatives such as pension fund independent governors and investment distributors, and not retail investors.
