Macquarie Bank’s stern negotiation has helped users of its wrap platform secure $4.1 million in fund manager rebates during 2007.
The figure represents a 64 per cent surge from 2006 rebates of $2.5 million.
Account numbers also gained 20 per cent for 2007 and Macquarie Wrap holds around $22 billion in funds under administration.
“Working with our fund managers to secure as many rebates as possible is of the utmost importance to us, which was evident from the more than $4 million we were able to pass back to our investors during 2007,” a statement from Macquarie Wrap head of product Doug Chang said.
Macquarie Wrap reported 50 new funds were added to the list of investment choices in 2007, bringing the total to 640.
The new funds ranged from AMP Capital Core Infrastructure Fund to Opus Income Capital Fund No 21 and Aberdeen International Equity Fund.
“Our menu continues to be driven by customer demand and a strong focus on meeting the ever-changing needs of advisers and their clients,” Chang said.
Last year, Count Financial chief executive Marianne Perkovic hit out at fund managers to drop ongoing fees bundled inside management expense ratios (MER).
“The main frustration that I have is that the industry tends to focus on platform fees and volume-based rebates,” Perkovic said.
“If a fund manager sets their MER for a product and five or 10 years later it’s a multi-million dollar fund, despite their size, that margin never goes down or gets distributed back to the client.”
