• Transparency in fund’s sales charges

The SPR is more transparent and lets you know the exact rate in sales charges payable to a unit trust distributor at the time of investment. You must read the prospectus to find out the typical range of charges. The actual amount paid will be made known to you via the transaction statement sent by the unit trust management company.

• Lower investment costs

Depending on the level of service provided, you may obtain different rate of charges when buying unit trusts from the various distribution channels. The rate may be lower if you buy units directly from the unit trust management companies or a bank than from your individual agent. So, you may want to shop around for better rates to minimise your investment costs.

• Quality, professional and value-added services

As different unit trust distributors charge different rates, you should only pay extra charges IF your distributor provides you with high quality, professional and value added services.

In short, the implementation of SPR will help you

• make informed investment decisions as you are fully aware of the fund’s actual value, the amount that is invested into the unit trust fund and the actual cost of investment.

• shop around for best and lowest rates of sales charge (depending on the level of service you prefer)

• help you to lower investment costs and increase the amount that is actually invested in a fund, thus providing for potentially higher returns on your investments.

Example -

An investor wishes to “invest” RM1, 000 in a unit trust fund. Assuming the unit price (i.e. NAV per unit) of the fund is RM0.50 and the sales charge is 6.5%, how many units will he get, what is the total amount of charges that he needs to pay and what is the amount payable?

Amount Invested

Amount of Sales Charge

Amount Payable by an Investor