Investment - Articles - Share classes lack clarity with challenging terminology

 According to research published by Zurich, advisers find the terminology relating to share classes challenging with 85% believing more consistency is needed.

 70% of the advisers questioned also said they would welcome a designated 'platform' share class being available on all investment platforms, even if it is not the cheapest option. The fact that advisers are prepared to pay more shows the level of challenges currently impacting clients’ ability to move assets between platforms.

 The research follows the arrival of new share classes in the market over the past twelve months and the ongoing industry debate that a lack of consistency is causing problems with re-registration.
 Alistair Wilson, Zurich's Head of Retail Platform Strategy stated, "These findings show that work still needs to be done to simplify how we refer to share classes and make it consistent for everybody involved – fund managers, providers and advisers. What one provider refers to as a clean share class, may represent a bundled one for another, which may result in unexpected tax liability for clients.

 "Creating greater clarity and ease of transfer between platforms for advisers and their customers is something we should all be looking to resolve together."