Franklin Templeton has continued the review of its fixed-income fund range, with multiple changes announced.
This review, which affects 15 funds, is seeking to “ensure alignment and consistency” across the product suite as well as improve investor outcomes, clarity, and disclosure.
Management fee reductions were enacted for the Brandywine Global Income Optimiser, Brandywine Global Opportunistic Fixed Income, Franklin Global Responsible Investment, Franklin Global Systematic Equity, and Franklin Templeton Global Aggregate Bond Fund.
On the Franklin Global Growth, the Active ETF version and the hedged version, as well as the Franklin Global Systematic Equity Fund, these have seen a reduction in the buy/sell spread, while the Global Aggregate Bond has seen one introduced.
“The management fee reductions follow a comprehensive review of our fund range and market peers, ensuring our funds remain competitively priced and continue to deliver value for investors,” it said.
“The buy/sell spreads have been adjusted to more accurately reflect the transaction costs associated with investor applications and withdrawals. These costs, such as brokerage, stamp duty and market impact are incurred by the fund when trading underlying assets.”
Management fee reductions
| Fund name | Current management fee | New management fee |
|---|---|---|
| Brandywine Global Income Optimiser Fund | Class A: from 0.65% Class M: from 0.55% |
0.50% 0.45% |
| Brandywine Global Opportunistic Fixed Income Fund | Class A: from 0.70% | 0.55% p.a. |
| Franklin Global Responsible Investment Fund | Class A: from 0.75% Class M: from 0.50% |
0.40% 0.30% |
| Franklin Global Systematic Equity Fund | Class A: from 0.75% | 0.40% |
| Franklin Templeton Global Aggregate Bond Fund | Class A: from 0.54% Class M: from 0.49% |
0.40% 0.35% |
Source: Franklin Templeton, October 2025
On the Franklin K2 Athena Fund, this will change its name to Franklin Athena Fund, which brings together two complementary businesses under the Franklin Templeton Investment Solutions (FTIS) platform. It enables the legacy K2 Advisors business to benefit from the scale and additional resources of the broader FTIS organisation.
These changes do not affect the investment philosophy, process, or the teams responsible for managing the fund.
Regarding Franklin’s multi-asset funds, it will add the inclusion of internationally domiciled investment products, such as internationally registered collective investment schemes and ETFs listed in developed world exchanges.
This expansion broadens the investment universe available to FTIS and enhances portfolio construction flexibility.
It also updated the strategic asset allocation and introduced an allocation to alternative assets of between 0 and 10 per cent, including the Franklin Athena Fund, across the Multi-Asset Fund range.
