What is Swing Pricing?
When people buy or sell shares in a fund, the fund manager has to buy or sell investments of the underlying holdings. This process has costs, such as brokerage fees, transaction charges, and taxes. If only the people who stay in the fund pay these costs, known as "dilution," existing investors have to pay for the trading costs caused by others. This means the value of the fund (called the Net Asset Value or NAV) goes down, because these costs are taken from the fund.
Swing Pricing is a way of setting prices that makes things fair for everyone. Triodos Investment Management (TIM), who manage our Impact Funds, may use Swing Pricing to protect investors from having to pay trading costs that they did not cause.
Without Swing Pricing, everyone buys and sells shares at the same NAV price, and trading costs are included in this price. This can lower the NAV and affect all investors.
With Swing Pricing, only the people who are buying or selling shares pay the costs, not the people who stay in the fund. The NAV is not affected for existing investors.
TIM uses Partial Swing Pricing, which means it only happens on days when there is a ‘material’ difference between the number of people buying and selling. If a lot more people buy than sell, the trading price goes up to cover trading costs.
If a lot more people sell than buy, the trading price goes down to cover trading costs. The amount the trading price changes when Swing Pricing is used is called the Swing Factor. Under normal market conditions, the Swing Factor will not be more than 2% of the NAV.
If there isn’t a big difference between buying and selling, Swing Pricing is not used and the trading price is the same as the NAV.
What does Swing Pricing mean for me?
If you have Impact Funds investments and are not buying or selling, Swing Pricing does not affect you and will not apply to the value of your existing holdings. It protects you from having your fund value reduced by other people’s trading costs.
If you are a customer buying or selling shares in our Impact Funds, Swing Pricing might change the price you get. As Partial Swing Pricing is used by TIM, this will only happen when net flows (the difference between buying and selling) exceed pre-set thresholds. Under normal market conditions, the Swing Factor (the amount the trading price is adjusted) will not be more than 2% of the NAV. If you own other shares in the fund, the value of these shares will not be affected by Swing Pricing.
For more information, see TIM’s Swing Pricing Information Document, which explains more and gives some examples.
You can see the price of any shares you have bought or sold in your contract note. Read our FAQ Where can I see confirmation of my Impact Fund investment purchases and redemptions? for more information on where to find your contract notes and the information they contain.
Swing Pricing Glossary
Partial Swing Pricing happens when the price for buying or selling shares in a fund is changed because there is a lot more buying than selling (net inflow) or a lot more selling than buying (net outflow). This means the people who are buying or selling shares pay the trading costs.
Swing Factor is how much the trading price is changed when Swing Pricing is used. Under normal market conditions, the Swing Factor will not exceed 2% of the NAV.
- If there are a lot more shares being bought than sold, the trading price is increased to cover trading costs
- If there are a lot more shares being sold than bought, the trading price is decreased to cover trading costs.
Dilution is when existing investors have to pay for the trading costs caused by other people buying or selling shares. When investors trade shares in a fund, the fund manager has to buy or sell the fund's investments, which costs money (like broker fees and taxes). If only the people who stay in the fund pay these costs, that is called dilution. Swing Pricing is a method used to avoid dilution.