Reading Fee Letters Beside Client Statements
A short method for spotting when published wealth management fee schedules and statements tell different stories.
Fee letters are written for clarity. Statements are assembled under deadline. The gap between them is where fairness questions begin.
Start with the schedule that was in force for the statement period — not the newest letter on the shared drive. Match minimums, breakpoints, and rebate language to the accruals shown. Note every waiver. If the waiver has no dated approval, treat it as a finding even when the client benefited.
In Bangkok advisory houses we have reviewed, the most common mismatch is a promotional rate that outlived its end date on statements while the letter still showed the standard schedule. The reverse also happens: letters promise a rebate that operations never coded.
A fee schedule fairness review does not require auditing every relationship. A disciplined sample, tied to the letter that governed that period, usually surfaces whether the issue is a one-off or a pattern.