Standardised fund charges

Clerical Medical is calling for a standard method to apply charges to a stakeholder product as the varying methods are skewing returns and making it difficult to compare fund performance, writes Simon Falush. With little differentiation between stakeholder funds, performance figures are likely to be a key factor in their purchase. Nigel Stammers, pensions strategy manager at Clerical Medical, said that currently some providers post returns without taking into account charges at all while others include the maximum charge, making discounts after the returns have been reported. Those...