Is the DFM sector behind when it comes to changing fees?

‘A lot of the DFM community remains AUM-based’

Isabel Baxter
clock • 4 min read

The discretionary fund management (DFM) community has not noticeably changed fees as much as the advice community, Sparrows Capital investment director Mark Northway told Professional Adviser.

He said that since Consumer Duty was implemented, advisers have noticeably changed their fee structures, but DFMs have not changed the way they charge as significantly. Northway noted that much of the DFM community still has an assets under management (AUM) fee structure. "We have a bit of an issue with that, because the workload associated with a larger AUM around single model is no larger than the workload that's associated with a smaller AUM," he said. "Whilst it's important to cover costs and have a profit element, that linear relationship is a little bit difficult to justify."...

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