Investor Economics Insight September 2018

Research on Investment Fund Pricing in Canada by Strategic Insight

Over the last three years, the investment funds industry has undergone a repricing exercise to an extent not previously seen. Management fee reductions and high net worth (HNW) pricing have been the chosen mechanisms used by most sponsors to adjust their fees to address new business realities.

The year 2017 holds two exceptionalities in terms of mutual fund pricing in Canada: MERs never went so low, nor had they ever dropped so sharply over the course of a single year. The reasons for such a steep decline are multiple.

The September issue of Insight documents the current pricing level of mutual funds across different asset and share classes thorough a detailed examination of both management fees and management expense ratios (MERs) over time. The Trendlines article examines the shifting trajectories in the flows of household savings in a rising interest-rate environment.