“While we have met the main research principles of MiFID II for a number of years, we have concluded that we should absorb the cost of research for those clients affected by MiFID II,” Schroders CEO Peter Harrison said in press release the company published on its website.
Schroders had previously said it would pass on research costs equity fund clients after Mifid II, which requires asset managers to pay separately for external research, comes into force in January 2018.
Union Investment also announced on Friday it will not charge external research costs to its funds, after having previously said it would charge clients. Union Investment claimed the decision “was made after the completion of several inhouse projects, one of the aims of which was to calculate future research costs.”
Invesco was the third major asset manager to announce on Friday it would absorb external research costs under Mifid II, a spokesperson confirmed to Expert Investor. The company said earlier this year its preferred option was to charge clients for research, though it stressed it had not taken a final desicion on the matter yet.
Their change of tack comes after industry leader Blackrock said on Thursday it would absorb all external research costs under Mifid II, following a string of similar announcements from other asset management companies over the past couple of weeks.
