New EU rules are great news for pension funds and retail investors, says Norma Cohen

…Take the requirement to unbundle the purchase of research services, says Nicola Beattie, founder of Market Structure Partners, a consultancy specialising in helping buy- and sellside companies to improve interaction. Under current practice, end clients pay for research; returns to investors are net of brokerage commissions. “Free” research to fund managers is effectively paid for by their clients. Fund managers “are not going to pay more for research than they used to pay”, Ms Beattie says, “but now it will come out of their own profit and loss account.” That, in turn, could mean higher returns for pension schemes. Already some of the biggest names in fund management have announced their intention to do just that, including Vanguard, Aberdeen and Jupiter…