Investing glossary
Management fee
The management fee pays the fund manager for running the fund's portfolio; it is the main component of the TER, but not the only one.
The TER also adds, among other things, the depositary fee (custody of the assets) and other administrative costs, all included in the final figure published in the prospectus/KID.
In index funds, the management fee is usually a small fraction of what an equivalent actively managed fund charges, precisely because there is no team trying to pick winning assets.