FILE PHOTO: People walk inside JP Morgan headquarters in New York, October 25, 2013. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz/File Photo

LONDON (Reuters) - JP Morgan Asset Management said on Friday that it will absorb the cost of paying brokers for investment research rather than pass it on to its clients when new European regulation comes in next year.

The European Union’s MiFID-II directive comes into force in less than six months, and will require brokers to set a separate price for investment research they provide to fund managers, rather than bundle in the cost with trading services. That leaves asset managers with a choice of having to pass the new charges on to clients or not.

“Research costs will be paid by the business and not by MiFID-II client accounts,” JP Morgan Asset Management, which had$1.9 trillion in assets at the end of June, said in statement.

A number of other asset managers, including Vanguard, Jupiter JUP.L, M&G PRU.L and Aberdeen ADN.L have also said they will pay research costs themselves.

Others, including hedge fund Man Group's EMG.L stockpicking unit GLG, Janus Henderson JHG.N and Schroders SDR.L, said they plan to pass research costs on to clients.

A JP Morgan Asset Management spokeswoman declined to give an estimate of how much its research costs will be.