Zurich-headquartered Vontobel Asset Management has become the latest finance house to decide it will absorb research costs onto its own balance sheet when MiFID II rules come into force in early January.
The second iteration of the EU’s Markets in Financial Instruments Directive requires financial service providers to disclose their research and analysis costs to clients and to decide how these costs are to be covered.
“This decision creates clarity for our clients and makes our cost structure more transparent,” said Axel Schwarzer, head of Vontobel AM.
“We also see an opportunity for the client to benefit from more focused research in investment decisions.”
Vontobel claims that the decision will result in additional costs in the low-single-digit millions of Swiss francs per year and that these costs are already factored into the firm’s 2020 objectives published at the end of August.
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