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Separately Managed Accounts

Overlay Projects Proceed Amid Downturn

August 11, 2008 - Given the turbulence in financial markets, now may seem an inopportune time for financial advisers to make drastic changes to the way they interact with investors. But according to bank officials and technology providers, plenty of banks are moving ahead with their plans to implement new systems, including those that offer unified managed accounts and overlay software.

Wealthy Investors Grow Pessimistic

August 11, 2008 - As the stock market continues to stumble along, high-net-worth investors are becoming increasingly pessimistic about the economy and dissatisfied with the performance of their financial services providers. 'When times are going well, people don't complain about fees, they complain about softer stuff, like how they don't think their adviser is attentive enough,' said Walt Zultowski, senior vice president of research and concept development for The Phoenix Companies and author of the '2008 Phoenix Wealth Survey.'

401(k) Plans Move to Collective Trusts

July 28, 2008 - BOSTON - Workers love pension plans, but providing 20 to 30 years of benefits to a huge retired workforce can cripple most companies' profits. As more firms drop their defined benefit pension plans in favor of defined contribution 401(k)s, institutions are looking for qualified default investment alternatives to mutual funds, such as collective investment trusts (CITs) and separately managed accounts (SMAs), to provide employees with pension-like features.

Fund Execs Defend 401(k) Fees

July 28, 2008 - BOSTON - Excessive fees in some 401(k) plans are hurting the reputation of all 401(k) plans and shaking investor confidence in what most financial experts agree is a great way for the majority of Americans to save for retirement. 'There is a notion in the press that 401(k) investors are being hosed. This is not the case,' said Michael Hadley, the Investment Company Institute's associate counsel for pension regulation, at the 'Defined Contribution Investment Only Forum,' held last Monday and Tuesday at the Harvard Club, and hosted by Financial Research Associates. '401(k) investors are getting an incredible deal.'

Talent Grabs Keep Flaring Despite High Cost

July 7, 2008 - Mutual fund companies and other financial services firms continue to battle one another for wealth management talent even though companies are forced to pay hefty salaries that crimp profits.

College Savings Plan Gets Smarter

June 16, 2008 - Friends and family members of New York college-bound students can now make contributions to a student's 529 college savings plan, thanks to a change in New York State law that mirrors similar programs in other states. With $8.3 billion in assets, New York's 529 plan has bragging rights to having the largest direct-sold channel with $7.1 billion across 500,000 accounts as of May 2008. Its companion advisor-sold plan channel has additional assets of $1.2 billion and 100,000 accounts. With combined assets, New York is overall the fourth largest college savings plan in the nation.

Week in Review

April 14, 2008 - Hedge Fund Managers Have Rough Month Hedge fund managers had a tough month in March, lagging equity and bond benchmarks but outperforming equity markets, according to firms that monitor their performance.

As Consumer Confidence Slides, Fund Firms Re-Emphasize Retirement Preparedness

April 14, 2008 - Consumer confidence in the economy, including stocks, bonds, mortgages, credit cards and structured products, is dropping, but experts say consumers need to stay invested in a fully diversified portfolio of mutual funds for their own good and for the good of the economy. Money managers should be doing more to educate investors by providing them with easy-to-use tools and emphasizing how important these products are to saving for retirement.

U.S. Money Managers Fear Going Global: International Firms Could Poach Top American Talent

February 4, 2008 - Asset managers afraid to leave the safety of the herd are missing out on crucial opportunities for growth in international and emerging markets. If U.S. firms continue their reluctance to globalize, they may see their best managers and customers get snatched away by bigger, global firms.

Mass-Affluent Offices Driving UMA Growth

February 4, 2008 - MIAMI-Unified managed accounts (UMAs) continue to grow at the expense of legacy separately managed accounts (SMAs), according to a presentation at the National Investment Company Service Association's '7th Annual Managed Accounts Technology and Operations Conference' here last week, at the Doral Golf Resort and Spa. 'The shift from SMAs to UMAs and other products is all part of the movement of family office-type services to the mass-affluent market,' said Walter Makarucha, a managing director at Odyssey Financial Technologies.

Question & Answer

November 25, 2007 - DTCC's Managed Account Service Ready to Roll It's been years in the making, but the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp.'s managed account service, which will become the centralized gateway for communications of managed account data between industry players, is just about ready to roll.

Acquisition Puts CheckFree's SMA Platform in Question

August 19, 2007 - The acquisition of CheckFree Corp. of Norcross, Ga., by Fiserv of Brookfield, Wis., announced on Aug. 2, has raised questions as to whether CheckFree's investment services division will stay or go, perhaps being independently sold off to the highest bidder. The unit provides the separately managed account (SMA) technology, including client reporting and portfolio management, for investment managers and broker/dealers. A potential future sale could undermine CheckFree's current leadership position in providing its CheckFree APL technology to the SMA marketplace. By some industry estimates, CheckFree provides 85% of the technology that powers the SMA industry and has helped fuel industry growth.

SMAs Offer Retirement Auto-Pilot

July 8, 2007 - NEW YORK-Without a good financial plan, retirement can be anything but relaxing. In fact, even for the affluent investor, adjusting to what should be one's leisure years takes some jarring realizations, said speakers at a recent presentation hosted by the Money Management Institute here. These realizations present opportunities for money managers to show how separately managed accounts, especially unified managed accounts, can help assuage their concerns.

The Year Of The SMA: Standardization Could Result in Faster Asset Growth

July 8, 2007 - NEW YORK-Managed accounts have been steadily gaining traction, but 2007 may be the year they truly get unleashed, according to panelists at a recent conference here. The New York-based Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. later this year will launch its Managed Accounts Service, which will, for the first time, provide one communications network and standardized set of messages for a now fragmented industry.

Offshoring Part II: Maximizing Operations

July 1, 2007 - Offshoring functions save companies millions of dollars a year, and as the practice matures, financial institutions are moving to the next stage of optimizing their offshoring operations, according to Deloitte & Touche's fourth 'Global Financial Services Offshoring' report, based on interviews with 36 financial institutions in eight countries. 'Offshoring is maturing at a rapid pace, but in the future, the best offshoring strategies will not and can not, be based on labor arbitrage alone,' said Chris Gentle, associate partner and author of the study.