AMFI has sent a letter to BSE Star MF in which it has expressed its discontent over the transaction fee levied on AMCs for transactions routed through its platform. In fact, fund houses have decided not to pay any transaction fee to BSE Star MF.
Last month, BSE started levying transaction fee on AMCs on its BSE Star MF platform which ranges between Rs.6 and Rs.30 per transaction depending on the volume. This transaction fee was applicable from December 1, 2016.
However, fund houses have told BSE Star MF through AMFI that they do not want to bear this transaction cost and termed the decision of BSE as unreasonable and unacceptable.
Instead, AMCs want distributors to bear this transaction fee. “Since the platform is a facility provided by BSE to brokers and distributors, it is appropriate that any charges related to the provision of the service are recovered from the service recipients and not from the AMCs. BSE’s decision to levy transaction charges on AMCs is therefore unacceptable and should be reversed,” said AMFI in the letter. Cafemutual has a copy of this letter.
This matter was discussed at the AMFI board meeting held on December 13.
A senior fund official is of the view that distributors should bear this cost as they are using this service. “Transactional platforms like BSE Star MF help distributors save time and cost. Then why AMCs should bear this cost? Almost all fund houses have enabled online transaction through their websites. So distributors can use our websites.”
However, a few officials have a different view. “AMCs are paying a healthy fee to an industry funded platform. They bear both annual fee and transaction fee. Then why so much noise to pay to BSE Star MF,” says a senior official.
AMFI has requested BSE to re-consider this matter.