The move, which will allow investors to get free access to 28 funds in total, is said to be a direct response to the Retail Distribution Review (RDR).
David Aird (pictured), UK managing director at Investec, said:
"As an unashamedly active asset manager, we are continually listening to our clients, both in terms of constructing our fund range and the Retail Distribution Review’s impact."
"We want to ensure that the end investor can access our funds at zero initial cost and as such we have waived the initial charge on our entire UK OEIC range." "We completely support the Retail Distribution Review’s commitment to unbundling, and hopefully reducing costs incurred by investors. We believe that waiving our initial fee is good both for investors, and for the fund management industry as a whole."
According to FE Analytics, all of the Investec funds currently carry an initial charge of between 3.5 and 4.5 per cent. Some platforms already allow investors to avoid this charge, but today’s decision ensures both direct and indirect investors get free access to the range.
Among the highest-profile funds in Investec’s stable includes Alastair Mundy’s Cautious Managed and UK Special Situations portfolios, which are favourites with both advisers and private investors.
The £2.4bn Cautious Managed fund is a top-quartile performer in its IMA Mixed Investment 20-60% Shares sector over three, five and 10 years.
It has also beaten its benchmark – split 50/50 between the FTSE All Share and Euribor 1month + 2% – over all three periods.
Performance of fund vs sector and index over 5yrs
Source: FE Analytics
Mundy’s UK Special Situations fund is a top-quartile performer over five and 10 years in its IMA UK All Companies sector, and second quartile over three.
Although not as established as Mundy’s two portfolios, FE Alpha Manager Philip Rodrigs’ UK Smaller Companies fund is a strong contender in its sector.
The £470m portfolio, which has five FE Crowns, is among the five best performers in IMA UK Smaller Companies over five years, with returns of 98.56 and 465.85 per cent.
Among the other popular choices in Investec’s range are Investec Enhanced Natural Resources and Investec Emerging Markets Local Currency Debt.
It is not the first time that RDR has directly resulted in a change in fee structures.
Harry Nimmo’s Standard Life UK Smaller Companies Trust dropped its performance fee in September last year, for example.
The group said it was doing so in order to "ensure that [the trust] remains competitive and fair to shareholders in the post-RDR environment".
Fidelity launched the low-cost Multi Asset Allocator range back in 2011 for manager Trevor Greetham, and again cited RDR as one of the influences for the decision.