Armchair Critic: So who should be charging less in financial services?

The first thing to say about pricing in the financial services sector is that current levels only look acceptable in times of high returns. Now we have that out of the way, of course, there are other debates about pricing structures and the merits of fixed fees versus capital-related fees - and those debates should be held across all the players in the cost and value chain. My own view is simple - cost should equate to client impact. What really matters is that, at current returns and yields, a 2% aggregate annual cost is too high and may equate to half a client's prospective return. ...