Fund classes when buying through a platform

murraypaul

Looking at the JP Morgan Emerging Markets fund as an example.
There are three accumulating classes available through Halifax Sharedealing: (I can't post links, too new an account)
Class A has no entry/exit fees or initial charges, and a 1.58% ongoing charge. (GB0030881550)
Class B has no entry/exit fees or initial charges, and a 1.09% ongoing charge. (GB00B1YX4S73)
Class C has no entry/exit fees or initial charges, and a 0.90% ongoing charge. (GB0030881774)
The KIID documents confirm the lack of other charges, and that historical performance is identical, except for the better performance C > B > A due to lower charges, so confirms that they are actually the same base fund. They are funds, not ETFs, so there is no bid-offer spread to consider.
So as a private investor going through a platform, why would anyone ever buy anything other than the class C fund?
I'm obviously missing something important, what is it?

DireEmblem

Morningstar's your best bet but yes you are right.  There is normally a restriction on minimum investment to certain classes - the lower AMC's usually require a higher investment to start off with.  The advantage you get with platforms, is they can pool your investments so customers on the platforms can get access to the cheaper share classes.

https://www.morningstar.co.uk/uk/funds/snapshot/snapshot.aspx?id=F0GBR05AVL&tab=14&DocumentId=c057ece63eb0b4e1cce8a0bdaf625e14&Format=PDF

See page 123.

Note there will be a bid/offer spread.  It will just be the fund is single priced, so the fund will be priced on a bid/mid/offer basis depending on the direction of the net investor flows of the day.

Alexland

murraypaul said:

So as a private investor going through a platform, why would anyone ever buy anything other than the class C fund?
I'm obviously missing something important, what is it?

The platform may support more expensive fund classes to support people transfering in existing investments.

dunstonh

So as a private investor going through a platform, why would anyone ever buy anything other than the class C fund?

You cannot buy class A any more (that is the old pre-RDR retail share class).  

From memory, I think Class B was the old institutional share class and class C is the post RDR clean share class.

The platform may support more expensive fund classes to support people transfering in existing investments.

Correct.  Plus in some cases, it can be cheaper to retain the pre-RDR share class and receive rebates rather than move to the clean share class.