Customers given 100 per cent rebate

Steve Tucker

MLC has announced that it has returned more than $6.4 million in fund manager rebates to its customers in the last 12 months, making the total amount of rebates around $13.4 million in the last three years.

MLC chief executive officer Steve Tucker said the practise of refunding fund manager rebates builds trust between the client and financial adviser, and reflected MLC’s commitment to improving transparency in the industry.

“We believe that 100 per cent of this benefit should be passed on to our customers given it is their money being invested with the fund managers in the first place,” he said.

“It does not make sense to build scale from investors and then pass the benefits onto anyone else but the investors.”

According to Tucker, MLC’s policy of passing 100 per cent of all fund manager rebates straight through to the end investor adds up to a significant cost savings for the customer.

“More than 40 per cent of the funds listed on MasterKey and MasterKey Custom, including the MLC investment options, provide a rebate of between 10 and 30 basis points, some more,” Tucker said.

“Importantly, there is no requirement for any of the fund managers listed on either the MasterKey or MasterKey Custom platforms to provide a rebate, but we use our scale to negotiate the best possible fee we can for clients.”

Tucker added that by refunding rebates, customers need not worry about whether one of the reasons a fund manager is listed on the platform is because they have paid to be there.

“This peace of mind is a critical factor if we want more Australians to seek advice and trust that platform providers are offering the best investment solutions available,” Tucker said.