As a holder of investment certificates, you pay annual charges. The charges are applied to cover the costs of the subfund. These costs are administration and trading costs and are deducted before calculation of returns and dividends.
The annual expense ratio (AER) captures all charges payable to the investment fund. When you invest in an investment fund, your bank must disclose the AER.
The AER also appears from the annual statement you receive from the bank and is based on a holding period of seven years. If your holding period is shorter or longer, you can use our AER calculator to calculate the AER for your expected holding period.
Passive subfunds tracking the market closely will typically be less expensive, while actively managed subfunds will be more expensive. Active management offers the potential – but no guarantee – of an above-market return, for instance when markets fall. For many actively managed subfunds, charges include advisory services, while for others, you pay separately for advisory services or portfolio management. For more information, please contact your bank or adviser, or see the statistics on this page.