Assirt hungry for profit

Assirt Research has restructured its ratings fees and increased subscriptions rates for its quarterly market share report as part of an initiative to steer the firm towards becoming a more profitable business.

Under the changes an annual subscription to the Assirt Market Share Report will increase from $1,900 to $10,000 per year.

Assirt head Simon Ibbetson says the increased subscription rates leaves clients at liberty to share the report among their colleagues, within their own company, whereas previously subscriptions were sold on an individual basis.

Ibbetson says the structure has been refined to enable the research group to rationalise its income stream and for fund managers to attain maximum value from being rated.

The changes see ratings fees move from a multi fee structure, with fund managers now paying a single fee for the rating of retail, wholesale, super and allocated pension offerings for an individual fund.

Previously, rating all versions of the core fund, including the retail fund, wholesale fund, super fund and allocated pension fund, all incurred separate fees.

“We have always charged managers for different aspects of a rating, these being a corporate capability rating, a rating at sector level and then at fund level,” Ibbetson says.

“Now, provided a minimum fee is met, we charge by core fund only.”

Any fee increase resulting from the restructure would depend on the number of products rated, but Ibbetson says many managers would not experiencing any increase under the new structure.