Coming down heavily on mutual fund houses for shelling out more to distributors, market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has warned fund houses of a cap in management fees if asset management companies (AMC) give out over 1.5% commission to distributors.
In a recent meeting, the market regulator openly told senior officials of various fund houses to reduce the commission given to distributors. A senior official from a leading fund house said on condition of anonymity, "Several issues, including a ban on entry load and bringing parity among all classes of investors to charge entry and exit load, were discussed with Sebi officials.
They told us that if AMCs are found giving commission of over 1.5% to distributors, they would bring a cap in management fees."
Currently, AMCs charge around 1-1.5% of management fees from investors. Earlier, investors paid an entry load of 2.25%. But, in June, the market regulator had banned the entry load to ensure more tranparency in mutual funds. Later, on August 7, Sebi came out with another order, stating parity among all classes of unit holders, and it was decided that no distinction among unit holders should be made based on the amount of subscription while charging exit loads.
"It has become very difficult to sell funds after the ban on entry load, as several distributors and independent financial advisors have stopped peddling MF products," said the CEO of a leading fund house.
source: Indian Express