In banking, a managed account is a fee-based
investment management
Investment management is the professional asset management of various securities, including shareholdings, bonds, and other assets, such as real estate, to meet specified investment goals for the benefit of investors. Investors may be institut ...
product for
high-net-worth individual
High-net-worth individual (HNWI) is a term used by some segments of the financial services industry to designate persons whose investible wealth (assets such as stocks and bonds) exceeds a given amount. Typically, these individuals are defined ...
s. The main appeal for wealthy individuals is the access to professional money managers, a high degree of customization and greater tax efficiencies in a fee-based product. They are not to be confused with managed bank accounts such as
thinkmoney, e-money accounts and basic bank accounts, all of which are consumer banking products in the UK.
Managed accounts started as
separately managed accounts (SMAs) and have since evolved into multiple strategy accounts (MSAs) and the rapidly emerging
unified managed account
Unified managed accounts are managed investment accounts that have developed out of separate accounts. Where a separate account holds the securities associated with a single investment manager or style managed for a client, a unified managed acc ...
s (UMAs). There is broad agreement that managed accounts provide the added benefits of greater transparency, liquidity and control.
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. Managed Accounts are typically offered by global
investment banks and specialist investment firms.
References
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Bank account
Investment management