Standard Life has announced its adviser charging policy and said it hopes to implement it in Q4 this year, ahead of the RDR.

The Institute of Financial Planning sponsor’s adviser charging model will offer initial, ad hoc and ongoing charges on either a flat or percentage of assets basis.

On the Standard Life wrap, advisers will be able to set charges at individual product level or across the whole portfolio.

Graeme Bold, director of UK retail RDR, said: “We see the transition to adviser charging as a unique opportunity to send a signal of change to consumers, removing any perceived bias created by providers’ influence over remuneration structures.

“It allows the amount, timing and funding of any adviser charges to be a matter purely for the adviser and their clients. As a result, advisers need the flexibility to charge clients for their services in a way that suits them.”

The firm’s active money Sipp, retail portfolio bond and FundZone platform will all also change to meet the new charging rules.

The new unbundled charging structure will apply to existing investments in mutual funds through FundZone and where FundZone is being used to administer the underlying funds in other wrappers.

Fund manager rebates on mutual funds will be paid back to clients in the form of cash rebates into the relevant cash account. This is currently the method already in use by the Standard Life wrap.

It will also introduce an explicit tax wrapper charge to cover its costs which are currently covered by fund manager rebates.

The firm said no changes would be made to its wrap until further clarity is provided on platform charges and rebates from the Financial Services Authority.