ADR Pass-Through Fees: Another Hand in Investors’ Pockets

July 10, 2008

One thing that is different about me as a blogger — I not only write about the economy, but I am actively trying to apply my views through investing. So, sometimes readers will get the micro-level aspects of investing. This evening I got the unwelcome surprise of additional fees on some of my ADRs — It seems that the SEC has allowed for the passthrough of custody fees to shareholders.

Now, I know that there are implicit fees on sponsored ADRs, and both of the ADRs that I got hit with fees on are sponsored. My question is this: Did the banks sponsoring the ADRs give up their other fees in order to charge explicit fees to the shareholders? I expect not. I am considering writing to the companies whose shares I own, in order to get them to consider choosing another bank that will not charge fees to its ADR holders.

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