Harbour Asset Management will cut fees on a third of its funds as of July 1 including a 30 per cent reduction for the group’s long-short product.
The Wellington-headquartered boutique says investor costs on four of its 12 portfolio investment entity (PIE) products will fall as the second half of 2020 kicks off.
As well as slashing 44 basis points (bps) off the Long Short fund fee to a new headline cost just under 1 per cent (performance fees still apply), Harbour lopped 10 bps from the concentrated Australasian Equity Focus fund and 5 bps off the T Rowe Price-managed Global Equity Growth product.
Furthermore, the firm has removed performance fees from its flagship Australasian Equity product, which has about $235 million in funds under management (FUM). The Harbour T Rowe Price fund has close to $110 million while the Equity Focus and Long Short products hold about $12 million and $2 million, respectively.
Last year, the manager pared back fees on two other PIEs – the Advanced Beta and Corporate Bond funds.
In a statement, Harbour says it had been “working hard to reduce outsourced costs”.
Harbour, headed by Andrew Bascand, uses Trustees Executors (TE) for fund administration and Guardian Trust as supervisor (after swapping out TE last year).
“Also, as FUM grows in our funds, from positive performance and new investors, we are able to spread the fixed costs associated with the funds,” the statement says. “We’re delighted to be able to pass on cost savings to our clients, especially in these uncertain times.”
The more than $4.5 billion funds management group has also partnered with TE and Australian-based business, Research IP, to explore technology-based solutions for the financial services industry.
Harbour owns a third of Formosa Wealth in equal shares with TE and Research IP. Formosa, in turn, recently created a wholly-owned subsidiary, Flint Wealth.