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Article: Fixing fees in a free market
- Article from:
- The Independent (London, England)
- Article date:
- February 5, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 1996 The Independent - London. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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MYSTERIES of the free market (part 1): Newton Investment
Management, a financial company, is about to relaunch an
income-generating unit trust. It is traditional with such launches
that, for a limited period, the company gives financial advisers
the right to rebate to clients as much of the 5 to 6 per cent
initial charge as they wish. Some brokers, including a firm called
Chelsea Financial Services, like to give almost all of that amount
back to their clients. Thus the firm gains new business and the
investor gets a hefty discount. This, we are often told, is what a
free market is allabout.
Except that, in this case, according to Money Marketing, a
financial weekly, cut-price Chelsea is ...