Assessment of value

Service quality is evaluated in a variety of ways, using a number of key measures. These include looking at the timeliness and accuracy of our fund factsheets, monitoring and ensuring that funds are being managed in line with our disclosures, and assessing the processes and systems through which the confirmation and settlement of our investments are conducted. We also assess services qualitatively, for example looking at any services that have won awards for the quality of the information and materials we provide to you. This year a number of measures were assessed and rated for the quality of service provided across fund management, distribution, operations and risk.

We have evaluated if the costs charged to the AFM for services rendered on their behalf are appropriate by examining the various aspects of our service provision to our funds and clients. These services include those provided by the wider Jupiter Group as well as those delegated to third parties who undertake services on our behalf. These range from account maintenance, client service and trade administration through to the placing of investments and the oversight of these various services. Most, if not all, of these activities will be common to all investment management firms. We routinely benchmark the costs for services sourced internally and from our third-party service providers against alternatives available to us. This allows investors to continue to benefit from market-competitive rates for these services over time.

We have looked at the costs incurred across the whole of Jupiter’s business, including those within JUTM, and assessed how they are incurred with regard to each fund. This included looking at how our fixed costs differ between funds investing in different asset classes as well as those at different stages of their development cycle of client usage and assets under management. These asset levels can change within individual funds, whether that be through new investors entrusting their money to us, existing investors moving it elsewhere, or through changes in the value of the underlying investments. Our analysis then searched for patterns in the rate of these costs declining by virtue of rising AUM levels. We also considered the overall level of assets managed by the Jupiter Group, looking in comparison at the Group’s fixed and variable costs.

While rates will inevitably vary on a fund-by-fund and class basis, our aim is to charge fees that are in line with the fund’s investment opportunities, performance aims and the services we provide. Where our Fixed Annual Charge figures are above the average for the peer group, we believe that they reflect the active, high-conviction investment opportunities to which we give our investors access and the resources we commit towards providing them. There are also instances where our funds’ fees are below their competitors’ averages. This may occur for a number of reasons, but we do not believe it is necessary to propose any increases to any of these funds and we keep our fees under constant review.

In order to assess whether the fees charged by our unit trusts and OEICs are consistent with comparable services offered by Jupiter, we first identify where we offer multiple ways to access a particular Jupiter investment strategy, and then assess the extent to which the fees are consistent across these different methods of access. Where differences do exist, we evaluate if they are reasonable.

In our evaluation, we have assessed the following:

• The level of Fixed Annual Charges you pay if invested in our unit trusts or OEICs
• The characteristics of our investor base
• The features and entry requirements of the classes we offer