Sun Life Global Investments (Canada) Inc. (Sun Life GI) Thursday announced a proposal to change the way expenses are charged to its mutual funds that are structured as trusts, by paying certain operating expenses and, in return, charging a fixed-rate administration fee in respect of each series of the funds.
The Sun Life Global Investments mutual funds structured as classes of a mutual fund corporation already pay fixed-rate administration fees.
“A fixed-rate administration fee provides our customers with a simplified approach to managing their investments by improving transparency and ensuring that certain fees are fixed,” said Rick Headrick, president, Sun Life GI, in a release.
Each fund currently pays its own operating expenses. If the proposal is approved by unitholders, on or about Jan. 1, 2015, Sun Life GI will begin paying certain operating expenses of the funds in return for a new fixed-rate administration fee paid by each fund to Sun Life GI. In fixing a large portion of the operating expenses at a certain percentage, investors will be protected from potential increases in these operating expenses.
If the proposal is approved by unitholders, effective Jan. 1, 2015, the operating expenses payable by Sun Life GI will include, but are not limited to, accounting, audit and legal fees, bank and interest charges, safekeeping and custodial fees, administrative and systems costs, costs of reports to investors, prospectuses and other disclosure documents, regulatory filing fees (including any regulatory fees and expenses payable by Sun Life GI in connection with acting as manager of the funds) and trustee fees for registered plans.
Each fund will continue to pay certain operating costs including borrowing costs, costs in connection with portfolio transactions, fees and expenses payable to or in connection with the funds’ Independent Review Committee, taxes payable by the funds, and the costs of complying with any new regulatory or legal requirement imposed on the funds commencing after September 25.