Standard Life Mutual Funds announces changes to its offering

Note: All amounts are shown in Canadian dollars.

MONTREAL, Oct. 19, 2012 /CNW Telbec/ - Standard Life Mutual Funds Ltd. ("SLMF") today announced changes to its fund offering. The changes relate to charge structure, trailing commission, new funds and risk rating and will be part of the updated simplified prospectus filed with Canadian securities regulators.

"Given the current context where the number of funds and options keep increasing in the market, we want to ensure Standard Life mutual funds continue being attractive investment solutions for our customers while ensuring a balanced and sustainable set of funds for SLMF," said Patrick Loranger, Manager, Retail Investment Products at Standard Life. "Our Legend Series is particularly well positioned and it's essential that it remains competitive."

Lower management fees (MF)
On or about October 31, 2012, SLMF will reduce the management fees by 0.20% of the F-Series of the Standard Life Monthly Income Fund, the Standard Life Canadian Dividend Growth Fund, the Standard Life Global Dividend Growth Fund and the Standard Life Canadian Small Cap Fund. Consequently, the management expense ratio (MER) of these funds will decrease, all other things being equal.

SLMF will also reduce the management fees by 0.20% of the A-Series and E-Series of the Standard Life Money Market Fund, the Standard Life Canadian Bond Fund and the Standard Life International Bond Fund, as well as the A-Series, E-Series and F-Series of the Standard Life Corporate Bond Fund. The reduction will counterbalance higher operating expenses (OE) charged to these funds, and will therefore not impact the MER, all other things being equal.

From low sales charge (LSC) to front-end sales charge
A new automatic feature will be offered to dealers for funds sold on or after November 1, 2012. As of Year 4 from the original purchase date for a low sales charge option, SLMF will automatically start paying trailing commission as if the fund had been bought under a front-end sales charge option. The new feature doesn't impact the management fees and charges paid by the investors.

New charge structure for the Legend Series
Effective on or about February 1, 2013, SLMF will no longer pay the operating expenses of its entire suite of Legend Series funds. The change will result in an increase in the MER for 27 of the 31 funds in the Legend Series. A decrease of the management fees by 0.20% of the remaining 4 funds - Standard Life Money Market Fund, Standard Life Canadian Bond Fund, Standard Life Corporate Bond Fund and Standard Life International Bond Fund - will offset the operating expenses, leaving the MER intact, all other things being equal.

Adding series
Pending regulatory approvals, on or about October 31, 2012, SLMF will add:

• E-Series and Legend Series to Standard Life Short Term Bond Fund
• F-Series, E-Series and Legend Series to Standard Life High Yield Bond Fund
• F-Series to Standard Life U.S. Dividend Growth Fund, Standard Life U.S. Equity Value Fund, Standard Life Global Equity Value Fund, Standard Life Global Equity Fund and Standard Life India Equity Focus Fund

Updated risk ratings
As part of its annual review, SLMF has changed the risk rating of the Standard Life U.S. Dividend Growth Fund from "medium" to "low to medium" and the Standard Life International Bond Fund, from "low to medium" to "medium". No material changes have been made however to the investment objectives, strategies or management of these funds.

Notes to editors:

Trust funds vs corporate class funds
Changes described in the press release apply to trust funds only. Corporate class funds are not impacted by today's announcement.

About Standard Life Mutual Funds
Established in 2000, Standard Life Mutual Funds Ltd. (SLMF) offers 51 mutual funds and fund-of-funds to some 70,000 investors in Canada. As of June 30, 2012, SLMF had more than $4.5 billion in assets under management. Its wide range of mutual funds is managed by professionals with varying investment styles across major asset classes. Information on the various funds offered by SLMF is available at http://www.standardlife.ca/slmf/en/

SLMF is part of Standard Life plc, a leading long-term savings and investment company headquartered in Scotland and operating internationally. It is affiliated with The Standard Life Assurance Company of Canada.

Management expense ratio (MER)
The MER measures the cost of managing a fund. It is comprised of management fees (MF), operating expenses (OE) and applicable taxes.

Sales charge options
The choice of different purchase options requires an investor to pay different fees and expenses and will affect the amount of compensation paid to a dealer. When buying a fund under the front-end (FE) sales charge option, the commission is generally deducted before the investor's money is invested and the commission is paid by SLMF or the fund manufacturer to the dealer. If an investor chooses the deferred sales charge (DSC) option, or the lower sales charge (LSC) option, SLMF pays the dealer a sales commission and no deduction is made from the investor' money. The investor will not pay a DSC or LSC unless the fund units or shares are sold within five or three years of purchase, depending on the sales conditions.

Trailing commissions
SLMF pays trailing commission out of its management fees (MF) to dealers for certain series of funds. The trailing commission varies on the basis of the different purchase options (FE, DSC or LSC).

SOURCE: STANDARD LIFE MUTUAL FUNDS LTD.

Ann-Marie Gagné
514-499-7999, ext. 4600
[email protected]