Wrap Charges

The following are the current schedule of Ascentric Wrap commissions and charges. These commissions and charges will be deducted from the client accounts, as applicable, but may be offset by commissions received.

	Portfolios up to £1M	Portfolios of £1M and Above*	How Charged
Initial Commission
Cash Received	Nil	Nil	n/a
Equities and Funds Transferred In	Nil	Nil	n/a
Funds Purchased	Nil	Nil	n/a
Non-custody Assets (uploaded by Ascentric)	£20	£20	Per Asset
Annual Commission
All securities, incl. Funds, Equities & Bonds	0.25%	0.10%	Quarterly
Cash	Nil	Nil	n/a
Non-custody Assets	Nil	Nil	n/a
Minimum Annual Commission	£150	n/a	Quarterly
Dealing Transaction Charges
Funds (via EMX and e-Contract Note)*	£12.50		Per Deal
Funds (non-EMX - paper Contract Note)*	£20.00		Per Deal
Equities (via CREST - e-Contract Note)	£12.50		Per Deal
Equities (non-CREST - paper Contract Note)	£20.00		Per Deal
Plan (Tax Wrapper) Charges*
General Investment Portfolio	Nil	Nil	n/a
ISA	Nil	Nil	n/a
SIPP	3rd Party Charge	3rd Party Charge	3rd Party Freq.
Offshore Bond	3rd Party Charge	3rd Party Charge	3rd Party Freq.
Onshore Bond	3rd Party Charge	3rd Party Charge	3rd Party Freq.
Other Tax Wrappers	3rd Party Charge	3rd Party Charge	3rd Party Freq.
In Specie Transfers (In & Out)*
Funds (In Specie Funds (In Specie Transfer)	£15		On Transfer
Equities (In SpecEquities (In Specie CREST Transfer)	£15		On Transfer
Equities (In Specie Certif(In Specie Certificated Transfer)	£15		On Transfer
Non-custody Assets	Nil		n/a
Withdrawal Charges*
Cash Withdrawal	No Charge		n/a
Total SIPP Transfer/Closure	Nil		n/a
Total Offshore Bond Transfer/Closure	Nil		n/a
Total Onshore Bond Transfer/Closure	Nil		n/a
Ad Hoc Service Charges*
Issue of ad hoc hard copy Statements	£5		On Request
Issue of ad hoc hard copy Valuations	£5		On Request
Issue of additional Tax Vouchers	£5		On Request
Probate Valuations	£100 + VAT		On Request
Responses to accountants and auditors	£50 + VAT		On Request

Printable Version

*Notes

1. Initial Charges and Transfers - Initial transfers of cash to - Initial transfers of cash to the wrap platform will not attract a charge other than those specified under the wrapper charges by 3rd parties. In specie transfers in of stock and funds will be subject to a charge of £15 to cover the administration required. Note that there may also be transfer out charges from the outgoing platform or provider. No initial commission is charged by Ascentric on fund purchases. Many funds are available at no initial charge by the Fund Manager; however there are exceptions and these are listed on the Ascentric funds list.
2. Dealing Transaction Charges - Ascentric will normally charge £12.50 for every transaction undertaken in traded securities (collectives and stocks and shares) unless it is a fund not traded via EMX or an equity not settled via CREST in which case the Dealing Transaction Charge will be £20. Issue of client and IFA contract notes must also be electronic to qualify for the £12.50 dealing charge.
3. Fund Switches - A fund switch, including that between two funds provided by the same Fund Manager, is processed as a sale and a purchase. These are therefore treated as two transactions and subject to the Dealing Transaction Charges for each as given above.
4. Non-Custody Assets – These are any asset (or liability) recorded on the service to provide the client with a complete picture of their financial position but which are not actually held by the Ascentric nominee and therefore cannot be traded on the wrap platform. These are known as “Memo Assets” on other Wrap platforms.
5. Annual Commission – Ascentric will debit clients their charge of 0.25% of the assets under administration on all investments subject to a minimum charge of £150. This includes all collectives (Unit trusts and OEICs) and stocks and shares. Cash and non-nominee recorded assets (such as life and pension policies) do not attract this charge. Where the fund size attracting the commission exceeds £1m the charge on all further funds will be reduced to 0.1%. The charge is deducted from Client cash quarterly in arrears subject to a minimum of £37.50 per quarter. This will be charged quarterly.
6. Groups – Family members and family trusts may be treated as a group for Annual Charge purposes so that the £150 pa minimum applies to the group and not each family member.
7. Fund Manager Rebates - Ascentric normally receives a rebate from fund managers for centralising and bulking the trading of their funds. This normally amounts to 25bps on funds where the annual management charge (AMC) is 1.5%. This rebate will be offset against the commission deducted above.
8. Cash - Cleared cash in client accounts will be credited with interest at the published rates as shown on the Ascentric website. The rate applicable will be tiered dependent on the daily account balances. Ascentric intend to maintain cash interest rate differentials to base rate and will normally update interest rates within one week of any base rate change.
9. Minimum Cash Balances – In order to pay Ascentric and any 3rd party transaction or account fees, the client must maintain at least a cash balance in all accounts of 1% of the portfolio value subject to a minimum of £300 in total across all accounts. It will be the IFA’s responsibility to ensure that the minimum cash balance is maintained. Should this not be the case and there is insufficient cash to meet any charges when due, Ascentric will have the right to sell client assets to pay such charges. The choice of asset(s) to be sold will be at the sole discretion of Ascentric but will usually be taken from the General Investment Account. This will usually be the highest value asset(s) in tradable securities and sufficient will be sold to settle the outstanding charges and forecast charges for the following 3 months.
10. Income Drawdown – Where a client has elected to take income drawdown payments from their pension account it will be the IFA’s responsibility to ensure sufficient cash is available to meet the monthly payments to the client. The IFA will be expected to establish sufficient free cash in the client’s account on an annual basis to cover all drawdown payments for the coming year. Should this not be the case and there is insufficient cash to meet any income drawdown payments when due, Ascentric will have the right to sell client assets to make such payments. The choice of asset(s) to be sold will be at the sole discretion of Ascentric but will usually be the highest value asset(s) in tradable securities. Sufficient will be sold to provide enough cash to cover one year’s drawdown payments.
11. In Specie Transfers Out – In specie transfers of out of stock and funds will be subject to a charge of £15 as given above to cover the administration required.
12. Plan (Wrapper) Charges – Any 3rd party Plan (Tax Wrapper) fees will be charged at cost and these will be collected on behalf of the 3rd party provider and paid to them as applicable. The frequency and basis of their charge will be set by the 3rd party provider of the Plan (Tax Wrapper). The current 3rd party Plan (Tax Wrapper) providers and their main charges are shown on the Ascentric website.
13. VAT - Most Commissions and Dealing Transaction Charges, Withdrawal, Closure, In Specie Transfer and Set-up fees are VAT Exempt but this may be subject to change as defined by HM Revenue & Customs. Ad Hoc Service charges are normally subject to VAT at the prevailing rate. Some Plan (Tax Wrapper) charges are also subject to VAT. This is usually the case for SIPP charges.
14. UK Taxes - The above Ascentric Wrap charges and commissions are exclusive of any UK taxes where applicable (e.g. Stamp Duty).
15. IFA Charges - IFA commissions are defined within the Client Agreement and charged separately.
16. Future Changes - Ascentric reserves the right to vary its charges upon giving reasonable notice to the IFA and the Client. The prevailing Ascentric Wrap charges and client money interest rates will be published on the Ascentric website.

Definitions

Ascentric: The Wrap service offered by Investment Funds Direct Ltd which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Investment Funds Direct Group Ltd, whose registered office is at 9 Palace Yard Mews, Bath, BA1 2NH.

Accounts: A tax or legal structure in which the assets in a Portfolio are held. These include:

• General Investment Account (GIA)

• Cash (Bank) Account

• Individual Savings Account (ISA)

• Self Invested Personal Pension (SIPP)

• Offshore Life Insurance Bond also known as an Offshore Investment Bond (OIB)

• Onshore Life Insurance Bond (OLIB) also known as an Onshore Investment Bond

Portfolio: A range of Investments consisting of any one or more wrappers or investment accounts held with the Ascentric Wrap service.

Investment: Any asset, other than cash, which is held in a Client’s Portfolio.

Bonds: Government Bonds (Gilts), Corporate Bonds and other similar fixed interest securities.

Cash: Cash held in a client’s portfolio, whether in the fee account, trading account and/or other investment account.

Equities: Shares or securities listed on a recognised stock exchange.

FSA: An abbreviation for The Financial Services Authority.

IFA: An abbreviation for Independent Financial Adviser including a group of independent financial advisers who is/are authorised and regulated to conduct Investment Business under the Financial Services Act whether trading as a sole trader, partnership, limited liability company, private limited company or public limited company.

Client: A person introduced by the IFA and who has signed a contract with Ascentric to hold and transact their savings and investments using the Ascentric platform.

Commission: The rates of commission payable under this Agreement.

Initial Commission: The amount of Commission initially paid at the commencement of a new investment.

Trail Commission: Commission paid as a percentage of Client funds which remain invested through Ascentric. These may be paid with varying frequency (monthly/quarterly/half yearly/annually).

Wrap: The internet based investment and asset consolidation service provided by Ascentric.

Wrappers: A tax or legal structure in which the assets in a Portfolio are held. These include:

• Individual Savings Account (ISA)

• Self Invested Personal Pension (SIPP)

• Offshore Life Insurance Bond also known as an Offshore Investment Bond (OIB)