Master trusts warn cost fears eclipsing quality

• Published in: Pensions expert p. 38
• Main Author: Mercer, Benjamin
• Format: Magazine Article
• Language: English
• Published: London The Financial Times Limited 10.12.2020
• Subjects: United Kingdom > UK
• ISSN: 2055-2564

The UK's largest master trust providers are becoming increasingly concerned that clients' strong focus on cost is having a stifling effect on their ability to develop quality investment offerings Master trust providers are concerned that their clients are focusing excessively on cost to the detriment of investment propositions, according to a report by the Defined Contribution Investment Forum. [...]respondents were optimistic that investment quality would gain its due recognition in the long term, the report noted, with increasing focus on integrating environmental, social and governance standards into portfolios, as well as the need to build effective retirement solutions swinging attention back to substance rather than cost. Providers argue "that they can offer asset managers a high degree of certainty of future inflows and so would like to see that future potential recognised in lower fee rates today, rather than the promise of discounts when that scale materialises", the report notes.