Fidelity has cut the fees on its Japanese Values and China Special Situations trusts.

Fidelity has cut the fees on its Japanese Values and China Special Situations trusts as part of a review to ensure they remain competitive.

Fidelity said in a statement that it was reducing the annual management charge on the China Special Situations trust from 1.2 per cent to 1 per cent per annum, ahead of trust manager Anthony Bolton’s retirement in April. The performance fee cap will also be lowered from 1.5 per cent to 1 per cent.

This latest reduction follows a decision last year to lower the AMC from 1.5 per cent to 1.2 per cent.

“We have seen significant changes to pricing following the introduction of the Retail Distribution Review. As a result, we felt this was the right time to review the fees to ensure Fidelity China Special Situations remains competitive,” said John Owen, chairman of Fidelity China Special Situations.

The fees on the Fidelity Japanese Values trust have been reduced  from 1 per cent to 0.85 per cent and backdated to 1 January 2014.

“Over the course of the last year, the company has grown significantly in terms of assets under management, both as a result of improved market sentiment in Japan, and as a result of shareholders exercising their subscription rights prior to their expiry in February 2013. This, coupled with increasing competition following the RDR, has meant that the board and Fidelity felt this was the right time to review the company’s fees to ensure they remain competitive,” said David Robins, chairman of Fidelity Japanese Values.

Retirement

Fidelity China Special Situations trust manager Anthony Bolton, one of the UK's best known and most successful fund managers in recent years, is retiring in April 2014 and will be replaced by fund manager Dale Nicholls.

Prior to managing FCSS, Bolton was the manager of a number of Fidelity funds, including Fidelity Special Situations, which he ran from December 1979 to December 2007. During this time, he delivered annual returns of 19.5 per cent in a career that challenged critics of active fund management who said that it was impossible to deliver market-beating returns over a long period.

After April 2014, Bolton will continue as an advisor to Fidelity and a trustee of its charitable foundations. Nicholls has 17 years’ investment experience and has managed the Fidelity Funds Pacific Fund since September 2003.

In the past year, the China Special Situations trust has returned a net asset value of 21.54 per cent compared with the benchmark MSCI China index's fall of 9.51 per cent.