Ausbil to pay $18m in compensation
Ausbil Investment Management is in the process of paying a fee error of $18 million to affected investors.
Ausbil found between December 2004 and January 2014 there was an inconsistency between the fees outlined in the Ausbil Investment Trusts — Australian Emerging Leaders Fund's product disclosure statements and the fees permitted under the fund's constitution.
Ausbil notified the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and advised investors it would undertake remedial action with the commission's help.
Auditor KPMG has been appointed as an independent adviser to review the compensation methodology and to assess the controls and processes around its compensation arrangements.
Payment of compensation to direct investors have been completed and the firm is now assisting platforms to make payment to their underlying clients impacted by the fee error. The timing of these payments will differ by platform. The compensation is anticipated to return investors to the position they would have been if the error did not occur.
Commenting on the breach, ASIC commissioner, Greg Tanzer, said "ASIC welcomes Ausbil's identification and reporting of the overcharging issue, and action to compensate. We expect nothing less of entities who discover issues like this with their systems that are detrimental to their clients."
"ASIC will work with entities who report issues to us to ensure consumers are compensated in a timely, effective way."
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