BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, will absorb the cost of external investment research from January 2018, in a move that is likely to land it with an annual bill dwarfing those of its competitors.

The decision by the $5tn asset manager follows that of US rivals Franklin Templeton Investments, JPMorgan Asset Management, Pimco, and Vanguard, which have all said they will shoulder the costs of research under the wide-ranging Markets in Financial Instruments Directive.