A managed account is a fee-based investment management product for high net worth individuals. Managed accounts started as separately managed accounts (SMAs) and have since evolved into multiple strategy accounts (MSAs) and the rapidly emerging unified managed accounts (UMAs). The appeal of managed accounts is the access to professional money managers, a high degree of customization and greater tax efficiencies in a fee-based product. There is also broad agreement that managed accounts provide the added benefits of greater transparency, liquidity and control.[1] They are not to be confused with managed bank accounts, a consumer banking product in the UK.[2]
Managed account minimums and the cost to operate managed account programs have steadily dropped as technology helps with efficiency and scale. Increasingly, managed account products are seeing interest from the "mass affluent" as well.
The retail managed accounts industry was sized at $1.70 trillion in 3Q 2009.[3] Investment managers offering SMAs include Harris, Merrill Lynch, MFS, Bank of America, Wachovia Securities, Lord Abbett, Deltafins Investments Inc., and Parametric.
A handful of firms provide outsourcing services for managed account middle office and back office operations. The technology platform for managed accounts is dominated by Security APL, a 1990s legacy technology from Jersey City, New Jersey-based CheckFree Investment Services (a division of CheckFree Corp.). Other vendors include PNC Managed Investments (PNC/ADVISORport was awarded First Place by Money Management Executive, nominated for the 2009 MMI Product Solution of the Year and was named one of the top innovators in business technology in the 2008 Annual InformationWeek 500 for its flexible and innovative UMA solution), Lockwood (acquired by The Bank of New York), MAG Consultancy in the UK, BISYS, FolioDynamix,Vestmark, LifeHarbor (acquired by Vestmark), Market Street Advisors, Citigroup GTS, JPMorgan, SEI, ITFX Capital Management Corporation, State Street, Investment Technology Group, and SunGard.