Hargreaves Lansdown (LON:HL) was the FTSE 100’s biggest faller on Wednesday morning, after the FCA announced a crackdown on the charging structure of the asset management industry.
Hargreaves Lansdown fell as much as 3 percent in early trading and fund management peer St James’s Place (LON:SJP) fell over 1 percent.
The FTSE 100 was down 0.23 percent to 7416 at 10:07am having touched lows of 7382.
FCA crackdown
The FCA have said they want to see more transparent pricing for retail clients and for the gap between the lower fees charged to institutions and the higher fees paid by retail clients eliminated.
The FCA said “the persistently high levels of profit earned by asset management firms suggest that prices lie above competitive levels, which in turn indicates that on average investors may not be achieving value for money.”
The FCA is also launching an investigation into competition among fund platforms.
Although their business models are slightly different, Hargreaves Lansdown and St James’s Place are the UK’s leading providers of retail funds.
Bunzl’s revenue jumps
Bunzl (LON:BNZL) was top of the pile today as investors cheered their latest trading statement.
Bunzl’s revenue was up 7 percent on a constant currency basis and was confident of acquisitions fuelling further revenue growth in the medium term.
The logistics group said: “Group revenue for the half year is expected to have increased by 7 percent at constant exchange rates due to the improved underlying growth of between 3 percent and 4percent and a similar impact from acquisitions.
The group has made eight purchases this year for a total consideration of £290 million which is helping drive total group revenue higher.
“The acquisition of Tecnopacking has further extended our operations in Spain which have grown significantly in recent years with total annualised revenue now approaching €200 million,” said CEO Frank van Zanten.
Shares in Bunzl (LON:BNZL) were 3.59 percent higher at 10:12am London time.