It was estimated that the decision had some £2.6 billion of annual revenue resting in its hands. Revenue the banks can now look forward to retaining.

However a potentially larger pot that another much criticised industry enjoys each and every year is that of the investment management industry. Insurance companies and investment houses charge management fees on products such as pensions, unit trusts and ISAs that put bank charges into the minor leagues.

Investor Profile director Jaskarn Pawar said “the charges are high, we know that, but what‘s more concerning is that the customer knows nothing about them. Where else do you get to pay £20 per month for a product or service that you barely even know about?”.

“Investment and insurance companies make their bread and butter from systematically imposing annual management charges on the products and funds their customers own.” he said.

In a similar scenario to the bank charges, these investment fees are justified by supposed administration costs. However the argument from the consumer is that they are out of proportion to the administration required.

It is estimated that on an investment (e.g. ISA or unit trusts) of £10,000 you would be expected to pay up to £250 or more per annum to your investment company. That‘s over £20pm for the pleasure of just holding your investments with the fund manager. Is that unfair?

And for all of that you may well end up with a fund that returns less than the market would, or at least less than many of its competitors. So for a handsome fee the fund manager does not even promise any sort of guarantee of return.

The really bad news is that pension providers will most likely be charging more than this. That‘s because they charge not only for the funds you are invested in but also the product itself. So they charge an administration fee for running the investments, then an extra fee for administering the product.

If you want it to get even worse then some insurance company products, like endowments, are so deliberately complicated that the fees are not even disclosed.

So what can you do? Well the Daily Mail already has a campaign running that it calls the “War on Charges”. This is a worthy battle and one very much worth winning.

In the meantime it‘s worth getting some expert help. If you are stuck paying these high charges, which you will be if you hold any sort of ISA, Personal Pension, or Unit Trust investments, then the least you can do is make sure you get an excellent service for your money.

It is unlikely that you current manager will provide this. Therefore you will need to take up the services of a specialist company. Investor Profile is one such company. Its Easy Viewer Portfolio service is paid for by the product providers so that you can take advantage of the online services at no extra cost.

Jaskarn Pawar of Investor Profile said “our Easy Viewer Portfolio service allows the customer to enjoy a far greater range of benefits without the need to move their investments, spend any money or fill in any complicated forms”.

More information can be found on the Investor Profile website at http://www.investorprofile.co.uk

As for the investment charges well they will continue until there is enough pressure on the providers to reduce them. However as we have seen with banks, large financial services institutions are incredibly resilient and will fight tooth and nail to hold on to their income streams.

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Investors in the UK can now take advantage of free online investment services with Investor Profile‘s three portfolio offer.

The online investment company, which launched its website earlier this year, now offers an Easy Viewer Portfolio, Instant Funds Portfolio and Free Range Portfolio.

Investor Profile director Jaskarn Pawar said “We‘re excited to be able to offer investors something that they‘ve never had access to before. Normally you would have to pay a financial adviser to receive the sort of information we are offering for free. The internet is facilitating a power shift from the traditional investment providers to the investors themselves, which is how it should be.”

Investors can apply for a free portfolio review facility using the Easy Viewer Portfolio, which also makes it possible to view all of your investment, insurance and mortgage plans online, together in one place.

The Instant Funds Portfolio allows investors the chance to make an investment online using their debit card. From 6th October 2009 investors over the age of 50 will also be able to take advantage of their increased annual ISA allowance (which goes up to £10,200) by investing online in a choice of over 1500 funds available through the Investor Profile website.

Investor Profile‘s Free Range Portfolio is the UK‘s first ever online investment facility where customers will receive a 100% rebate on their initial and annual commission payments. Investors will be able to open an ISA, Pension, SIPP (Self Invested Personal Pension) or general trading account. Investment options within the accounts include Unit Trusts, Investment Trusts, Exchange Traded Funds (ETFS), Shares and Gilts. There are also discounts available to partners and families.

Investors applying for the Free Range Portfolio service will also have access to the Vanguard range of low cost, passive investment funds. These funds are not yet available through any other online service and are otherwise exclusive to clients of professional wealth managers in the UK.

For more information about the services Investor Profile offers please visit http://www.investorprofile.co.uk/

The post Investor Profile launches free online investment service appeared first on 12 Press Release.