How about if I submitted the SI together with the new application fund?

Pressure to cut unit trust upfront fees

PETALING JAYA: Pressure is mounting for unit trust upfront sales charges to be reduced as new players emerge.

The matter was also brought up by the Employees Provident Fund (EPF). In recent talks with the Federation of Malaysian Unit Trust Managers (FMUTM) and its members, EPF asked them to consider lowering the charges to facilitate investment in unit trusts.

Industry observers said with Tune Money and InterPacific Asset Management Sdn Bhd coming onstream, there was greater pressure to lower the upfront fees and this should bode well for the investing public.

It is also learnt that EPF, in the past two to three months, had proposed to FMUTM that the maximum sales charges for unit trust investment be capped at 3% as opposed to the average 5% to 6%.

Sources said FMUTM had appealed to the Finance Ministry, saying the EPF's proposed charges were too low and that the federation would consider lowering the charges gradually.

The dispute is expected to continue and the pressure is growing in every meeting between the EPF and the federation, according to an observer.

The latest player to join the unit trust league is InterPacific, which currently does not impose any upfront sales charges. Tune Money, meanwhile, plans to launch funds online with zero or minimal sales charges.

With the entrance of these players, competition is getting intense and fund houses will need to review their charges to ensure they are able to sustain the public's interest in investing with them, according to an industry observer.

By not imposing any upfront fees, a unit trust management company can fully invest their clients' money in the funds, they added.

Sources said many fund houses were not very keen on the EPF proposal to reduce the charges as it would affect their distributors' income, leading to lower sales volumes. At present, many of them sell funds via agents and banks (as third-party distributors).

It is estimated that 60% to 70% of unit trust management companies sell funds through agents and banks. As of May 31, there were 39 unit trust management companies with a total 462 approved funds.

An observer, however, said while the industry trends might lead to a gradual lowering of upfront fund charges, distributors could still succeed by growing their assets under management over the long term.

They could do this by being more productive and further elevating their capability to ensure long-term retention of customers, he added.

URL: http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?f...52&sec=business

Don't miss the OSK-UOB Asian Real Estate Fund

For more info, visit:
http://www.maybank2u.com.my/highlights/oskuob/index.shtml

I have bought PM PFEPRF.

Public Far-East Properties & Resorts Fund. Launched last month!

My friend, how many times I have to repeat this?

PFES
PAIF
PFEPRF
PSBF

All from PM.

This post has been edited by David83: Aug 26 2007, 07:46 PM

Nothing impressive. You might want to follow my portfolio. It may not suit your taste.

I'm absolutely supporting the idea of online portal with lower service charge upfront like in US or Europe.

It's also good to have an option for customer/consumer to choose since not many average people are aware or know what he's investing into. He might need professional advices and monitoring.

I always keep reminding my agent to be more responsive.

Some people buy balanced fund because of the insurance coverage but that doesn't bother me.

You should topup on your own. Don't trust your agent fully, aichiban.

dzi921, do you want to consider some off-shore fund? The funds that you have or opened recently has a heavy weightage in KLCI.

Besides, it's an agressive fund. If you like aggressive style, you could consider this fund.

I didn't perform any topup today. If DJIA down tonight, I'll consider to do so tomorrow.

If you the detailed statement from your agent, it'll be listed in there.

Assassin, you know to when the distribution is being paid out right? Your when is referring to which time line - before PM announced it (insider news), the day PM announced it (usually at the end of the financial year or month of accounting year) or after a period PM announced (which this will be listed in the detailed statement)?

Perhaps Japanese market is as volatile as US.

Anything that upset the Yen against USD will greatly impact Nikkei 225.

PAIF has great potential fund. I'm putting high faith on it.

If it could perform like PITTIKIAL, that would be marvellous. So far, the performance is average and its age is less than a year.

Let say if you allocate RM 1k for each fund. That would be a minimum of RM 44k for 44 funds. That's a lot of money excluding your topup and etc.

Definitely I'm not one of those people since I don't that huge amount of money.

Don't have PCSF. PAIF is not as aggressive as PCSF.

Even I'm not going to buy them in one shot. To earn or save RM 44k, that'll take ages; at least few years.

Not going to buy any new funds at the moment. My agent has advised me not to go into PCSF.

I might want to consider a local equity fund. My agent recommended PIOF but I might eye for PRSF too. Let see how it goes and just want to complete my portfolio. After PITTIKIAL has been closed, I don't have a local equity fund

Told you before that PCSF is an aggressive fund and my agent roughly know my taste. So he doesn't encourage me to go into it.