25 June 2015

IOSCO consults on international standards on fees and expenses of investment funds

The International Organization of Securities Commissions today published the consultation report on Elements of International Regulatory Standards on Fees and Expenses of Investment Funds, which proposes an updated set of common international standards of best practice for the operators of Collective Investment Schemes (CIS) and regulators to consider.

 The report examines and consults on issues identified as being key across jurisdictions. Such issues concern, inter alia:

- types of permitted fees and expenses

- performance-related fees

- disclosure of fees and expenses

- transaction costs

- hard and soft commissions on transactions

For the current report, IOSCO conducted a second review of existing regulatory practices with respect to fund fees and expenses, in order to gather information about how these practices have evolved in recent years.

Since the 2004 report, the natural evolution of the industry has resulted in new CIS product structures, new investment strategies and changing distribution models, amongst other developments. At the same time, regulatory developments in some jurisdictions or at the regional level (e.g. MiFID revision) have changed the way fees and expenses are disclosed, and the effectiveness of certain disclosure models has been tested with investors.

This consultation report builds on the recommendations made in the 2004 paper on International Regulatory Standards on Fees and Expenses of Investment Funds.

Comments should be submitted on or before Wednesday 23 September 2015.

Full press release

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