James Brearley ups discretionary fee in rate card revamp

James Brearley has increased its discretionary fees and introduced a minimum £250 charge, as part of an overhaul driven by the onset of the retail distribution review (RDR).

The firm has upped its underlying management charge for discretionary clients from 0.5% to 0.6%, the first time it has increased its discretionary fee in 20 years.

On top of the fee, clients on this tariff pay dealing charges that range from 1.75% on the first £7,000 invested for UK and overseas shares, and open and closed-ended funds. This drops to 1% and is tiered thereafter. For bonds and structured products, transaction charges start at 1.25% for the first £5,000, falling to 0.75% above that. Advisory management charges start at 0.6%.

James Brearley has also introduced an all-in discretionary fee, inclusive of management and transactional charges, at 1% of assets under management.

Due to the rising costs of compliance, the firm has also introduced a minimum charge of £250 for advisory and discretionary clients, alongside a £10 transactional charge per trade for those clients that have a combination of management and transactional charges.

All clients are currently being moved across into clean fund share classes where appropriate.

James Brearley director David Hannis (pictured) said: ‘This will allow us to keep our commission scales at the same level but reflects the ongoing costs of regulation.’

Deutsche Bank Private Wealth Management also recently took the decision to unveil its post-RDR pricing structure in which it opted to introduce a flat £500 suitability charge.