Asset managers are paying almost three times more for investment research in some cases compared with peers that receive identical services from the same brokers, laying bare inconsistent pricing across the market.

Substantive Research, which compares investment research, surveyed 60 asset managers overseeing $14tn and discovered that the biggest disparities in charges were among the largest fund management groups. It found some of them are paying 190% more than their rivals for the same level of service from the same broker, with the average difference in pricing coming in at 70%.