Nationwide Funds Group [profile] has joined the list of companies that are no longer charging redemption fees on its funds. Removing the fees is expected to make products more marketable to customers, said Timothy Rooney, head of product management and research, in a phone interview.

Rooney explained that the redemption fees -- which were originally imposed to deter market timing and late trading in mutual funds -- have become unnecessary. The King of Prussia, Pennsylvania-based mutual fund arm of Nationwide Financial Services will stop charging redemption fees on its retail and retirement plan mutual funds as of August 1.

"We see it as a positive effect because of the streamlining and making products more marketable," Rooney said. "This change is one of the steps we've taken in our commitment to improve our fund offerings through certain enhancements on the funds."

"This will make our product line more competitive and simplify our business model," he added.

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COMPANY RELEASE

June 21, 2012

Nationwide Funds Group eliminates redemption fees
Change underscores firm’s commitment to improve fund offerings

King of Prussia, PA – Nationwide Funds Group today announced that it will eliminate all redemption fees on its retail and retirement plan mutual funds, effective Aug. 1. The change is designed to make it easier for clients to work with Nationwide and help drive asset growth for the company and financial advisors.

“Redemption fees were originally imposed to deter market timing and late trading in mutual funds,” said Michael Spangler, president of Nationwide Funds Group. “Nationwide Funds Group has made a number of advances in an effort to detect and reduce excessive trading, short-term trading or market timing activity. We believe these advances eliminate the need for redemption fees in our funds and will create the potential for growth and efficiency for financial advisors and their clients.”

Nationwide’s risk-based monitoring approach that incorporates systematic, rules-based technology with further research of questionable trends and activity, have proven to be effective in identifying and deterring market timing abuses. This approach complements industry improvements, such as shareholder information agreements and more sensitive fair valuation of foreign security prices.

"We are continuously searching for ways to improve our fund offerings,” Spangler said. “We believe the elimination of redemption fees will make our investment offerings more competitive in the marketplace, simplify our business processes for distribution partners and create greater economies of scale for our shareholders.”

Investors interested in learning more about Nationwide Funds should contact their financial advisor or visit http://www.nationwide.com/mutualfunds.jsp. Financial advisors interested in learning more should call the Nationwide Funds sales desk at 877-877-5083, option 3.

About Nationwide Funds Group


Nationwide Funds Group is the mutual fund business of Nationwide Financial Services, Inc., a leading provider of long-term savings and retirement products. Nationwide Funds Group is based in the Philadelphia area and offers a wide range of sub-advised mutual funds. As of March 31, 2012, Nationwide Funds Group managed approximately $43 billion in assets.

About Nationwide

Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, based in Columbus, Ohio, is one of the largest and strongest diversified insurance and financial services organizations in the U.S. and is rated A+ by both A.M. Best and Standard & Poor’s. The company provides customers a full range of insurance and financial services, including auto insurance, motorcycle, boat, homeowners, pet, life insurance, farm, commercial insurance, annuities, mortgages, mutual funds, pensions, long-term savings plans and specialty health services. For more information, visit www.nationwide.com.

Nationwide, Nationwide Financial, the Nationwide framemark and On Your Side are service marks of Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company.

Nationwide Funds distributed by Nationwide Fund Distributors LLC (NFD), Member FINRA, 1000 Continental Drive, Suite 400, King of Prussia, Pa. 19406.

 

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