The 2004 Survey of Custodial Fees is the fourth edition of a report on custodial and pension fund pricing practices. It reports the actual fees paid by Canada's top corporations and organizations to custodians, chartered banks and other pension fund service providers such as investment managers and actuaries. The average market rates for most commonly used services can be determined quickly and cost-effectively.This report is compiled from questionnaires completed by a representative sampling of corporations, non-profit organizations and government and quasi-government institutions with investment portfolios and/or pension fund assets from $30 million to more than $50 billion in size.

Findings of the Survey

• Some custodians discount more than others
• Custodial fees changed significantly between 2001 and 2004
• Wide variations exist in safekeeping and adminstration fees

• transaction fees - book based
• safekeeping and administration fees - on book value and on market value
• global holding charges by country
• split of fee income from securities lending - full indemnification provided
• benefit payments by direct deposit
• actuarial fees per active contributing member
• fund manager fees - actively managed Canadian equity funds
• service performance evaluations by custodian

• "We've just gone through an extensive RFP process and none of the providers contacted had fee schedules as detailed as your survey" - a manufacturing company
• "Easy to use, complete and extremely helpful in negotiations" - an insurance company
• "Based on your report, we knew exactly what to demand and cut our fees by almost 20%!" - a mutual fund company
• "We didn't realize how detailed this is - the prices by custodian is really interesting" - a high tech company
• "We always tender our business but we also buy your book as a check to see what the lowest prices are and to help develop the RFP" -a provincial government Home      Contact Us     Order