AXA Wealth Elevate comments on the FCA consultation GC13/7 ‘Changing customers to post-RDR unit classes’. The consultation is intended to clarify the regulator’s stance on conversion of assets to clean unit share classes.
David Thompson, managing director, AXA Wealth Elevate, said:
“We welcome this clarification from the regulator, which supports the stance we have taken. We believe that platform-wide conversions to clean share classes would not always be in the best interest of all customers. The regulator has now clearly stated that if a client is disadvantaged by a conversion they would not expect it to take place.
“There are still cost differences between retail and clean share classes which could result in an increased cost for clients. Some fund groups are also yet to launch a clean share class for certain funds.
“Our approach has been to introduce a comprehensive clean share class offer with the introduction of over 2,500 clean share class funds. This puts Elevate at the forefront of market development. This provides advisers with the flexibility to choose the most appropriate share class for their clients. For ISA and pension tax wrappers, remaining in retail funds could well be the most cost effective solution for existing investments. Elevate provides the functionality to allow advisers to transition their clients to clean share classes, keeping them in control of this process.
“We think putting control in the hands of advisers is the best way to address the issue of moving assets into the new clean share classes.”
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