Chris Sier, the former chairman of a UK regulatory taskforce pushing for fee transparency from asset managers, is gearing up for his next big challenge — to get pension funds to ask tougher questions on investment costs.

Sier, who gave the keynote address at Financial News’s 17th Asset Management Awards last night, told the audience that with his disclosure standards now agreed, pension funds have the means to get fuller answers to what they are paying in investment costs. He said: “The challenge over the next year will be to encourage the asking.”