In April 2020 we published our first Value Assessment Report, providing an in-depth assessment of the value provided by the funds in our UK range, according to seven criteria set by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The report covers 57 funds and 435 share classes and finds that overall, Columbia Threadneedle’s UK fund range provides Good value. The assessment, carried out and approved by Columbia Threadneedle’s UK Funds Board, uses a robust, consistent and repeatable methodology and process that will enable year-on-year comparisons in future reporting.
Columbia Threadneedle welcomes the introduction of value assessment reporting, an important step forward in providing greater transparency across all funds and asset managers in the UK. We believe it will ensure improvements across our industry, including clearer and more specific fund objectives and targets, greater focus on performance after fees and improved transparency regarding costs and charges, all of which will enable customers and their advisers to better measure and compare outcomes across funds and asset managers. Our Value Assessment Report concludes that, overall, our funds provide good value. It also, however, highlights areas where we can do better, and we have identified remedies and are taking action to improve value for customers going forward. Through 2020, we are taking steps to reduce costs for investors and to provide better value for money, including:
- Removing performance fees across the UK fund range (from 1 Jan 2020)
- Reducing Registrar Fees on 26 share classes for some larger funds, to ensure economies of scale are passed on to customers
- Reducing the Annual Management Charge on 55 share classes, where fees were above market relative to competitors
- Applying subsidies and fee caps to 32 share classes to ensure customers don’t bear excessive fixed costs while the share class is small
- Converting approximately 30,000 direct customers into cheaper share classes.