AJ Bell Investcentre, one of the leading investment platforms for financial advisers and their clients, has removed or reduced a number of charges on its platform. This includes changes to the platform’s annual custody charges. At the same time, AJ Bell Investcentre is also increasing the interest paid on cash held by clients.
The reduction in the custody charge adds further value for advised clients in achieving a very competitive overall net outcome when considering the impact of interest paid on typically smaller cash balances and the custody charges applied to other assets. AJ Bell Investcentre does not apply its custody charge to cash.
The full detail of the changes to charges and interest rates from 1 April 2024 can be found below*.
These changes come as AJ Bell Investcentre looks to provide advisers with opportunities to help clients better understand the new pensions tax regime that will accompany the abolition of the lifetime allowance from 6 April. To enable advisers to achieve this goal AJ Bell recently launched a one-stop technical hub addressing all of the latest regulatory and legislative updates, as well as other technical content including guides, webinars, events and more.
Annual custody charges
A number of reductions are being made to the annual custody fees for investing via the Funds and Shares Service (F&SS). These changes were first announced in December:
- A new tier from £0.5m to £1.0m is being introduced with a lower annual charge of 0.175% (currently 0.20%)
- The annual charge for assets between £1.5m and £2.0m is being reduced to 0.075% (currently 0.10%)
- The annual charge is now capped for all accounts with assets over £2.0m
Fixed charges
In addition to the above, two fixed charges are being removed:
- SIPP in-specie transfer-in charge (currently £60 + VAT)
- Conversion of a SIPP into a Retirement Investment Account (currently £75 + VAT)
Interest rates
Effective from 1 April, interest on all cash balances were increased to:
- £0 to £10,000 – 2.60% (previously 2.4%)
- £10,000 to £50,000 – 2.70% (previously 2.5%)
- More than £50,000 – 3.40% (previously 3.15%)
Mark Rendle, AJ Bell Investcentre product director, says:
“I am pleased to announce several reductions to our tiered custody charges alongside an increase to our interest rates paid to clients on cash. Coupled with the removal of two fixed platform charges, this demonstrates our commitment to providing good value for advisers and their clients.
“These changes will help advisers to feel confident they are getting the best service available to help them support their clients as well as enhance our competitive position as one of the largest advised platforms on the market. With the new financial year set to bring with it the abolition of the lifetime allowance and all the complexities of the new pensions tax regime, it is vital advisers can trust providers to make their lives easier by delivering a high quality proposition and service at a fair price.”
*AJ Bell has also increased cash interest rates and reduced charges on its D2C platform. Full details of these changes can be found here: AJ Bell cuts dealing fees and increases cash interest rates for DIY investors