Watchdog announces new rules to help savers

The city watchdog has called time on an era of bloated fees by giving Britain’s £8 trillion asset management sector just over a year to justify high prices or switch savers to cheaper funds.

Fund managers were told by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) that they had a maximum of 18 months to put new rules into force following a two-and-a-half year investigation into the sector.

These include a requirement for independent directors to represent 25pc of a UK fund house’s board, a move first mooted in the FCA’s report last summer, as well as a rule forcing firms to prove how they provided value to investors through an annual assessment.

The swathe of new rules has huge implications for retirees across the country as three in four British household rely on the asset management sector to manage their pensions.  The FCA wants to make the industry more transparent so that it is easier for investors to make better decisions.