Morningstar Announces Findings from Fourth Global Fund Investor Experience Report; Taiwan Scores A- Grade

Wing Chan, director of manager research for Morningstar in Asia, said, “Our mission at Morningstar is to help investors reach their financial goals. The goal of our Global Fund Investor Experience report is to improve the investor experience by examining the treatment of mutual fund shareholders in various countries to spur dialogue about best practices. Every market we examined has areas for improvement, and we hope our research about the experience of fund investors worldwide will help serve as a catalyst for positive change.”

Highlights of Taiwan’s grade include:

• Taiwan's overall grade is an above-average A-. Taiwan has excellent taxation policies and generally beneficial disclosure requirements and sales and media practices. Taiwan's overall grade was brought down by high fund costs.
• Taiwan received a C+ in Regulation and Taxation. Taiwan's regulations are good, but taxation is where the country really shines. Taiwan has one of the most favorable tax policies in the survey.
• Taiwan's disclosure is slightly better than that of most other countries, but requiring quarterly disclosure of full portfolio holdings helped it achieve a grade of A in this category.
• Taiwan received a D+ in Fees and Expenses because the fees for funds available for sale to investors in Taiwan are among the highest in the survey.
• Sales practices in Taiwan have a number of important pillars in place, which contribute to its A- grade for Sales and Media. Directed brokerage, or sending trade transactions to a specific firm in exchange for directed trades, is prohibited in Taiwan, and more than 80 percent of funds are sold through an open-architecture system.

You can read the country summary for Taiwan here. 

The overall country grades for 2015 are below, from highest to lowest and then in alphabetical order:

Korea: A
United States: A
The Netherlands: A-
Taiwan: A-
United Kingdom: B+
Sweden: B
Australia: B-
Denmark: B-
Finland: B-
Norway: B-
Switzerland: B-
Canada: C+
Germany: C+
India: C+
New Zealand: C+
Thailand: C+
Belgium: C
France: C
Hong Kong: C
Singapore: C
South Africa: C
Spain: C
Italy: C-
Japan: C-
*China: D+

New this year, Morningstar incorporated The World Press Freedom Index in its assessment of media for the Sales and Media category. Reporters Without Borders, an international nonprofit organization, publishes the index annually to measure the freedom of information in 180 countries. Morningstar also added a quantitative analysis about the frequency of portfolio reporting in the Disclosure category, and included a first-time review of the fund investor experience in Finland.

Additional key findings of the 2015 report include:

• Korea received an A this year because of its improved sales practices, up from a B+ in 2013, and is the only other country aside from the United States to achieve the top grade.
• The United States garnered the highest score for the fourth time with a top grade of A. While the United States boasts relatively low expenses and strong disclosure, its Sales and Media category grade is average.
• The Netherlands rose to an A- grade in 2015, compared with a B in 2013, improving in the areas of Fees and Expenses and Sales and Media assisted by a newly implemented ban on advisor commissions.
• Finland received a grade of B-, reflecting consistent practices that have developed from pan-European regulations.
• China received the lowest grade of a D+ because of high fees, limitations on overseas investing, and restrictions on foreign-domiciled funds.*
• Since the 2013 study, regulators in New Zealand introduced semiannual portfolio holdings disclosure, while Thailand plans to move from semiannual to quarterly disclosure. Australia is now the only market that does not have portfolio holdings disclosure requirements. The global fund industry is generally ahead of regulatory requirements, with monthly holdings releases becoming common.
• Nearly every market has enacted new or updated regulations over the past two years, which shows active engagement by regulators in the areas Morningstar evaluates in the report.
• In the United States, Australia, South Africa, and The Netherlands, ongoing fund fees are typically unbundled, which decreases reported fund fees. However, if investors are paying for both advice and an administration platform, the total cost of owning a fund could be an additional 1.0 to 1.5 percent.
• In 22 of the 25 countries evaluated, banks and insurance companies are named as one of the dominant fund sales channels. The next most common channel, cited in seven countries, is the independent advisor.

To read Morningstar’s complete Global Fund Investor Experience report, please visit http://global.morningstar.com/GFIE2015PressKit.