Managed accounts adoption gathers steam: IMAP

In the six months to 31 July 2017, managed account FUM grew 22.5 per cent, or $8.88 billion, the IMAP census found.

The company’s chair Toby Potter noted that of this, $4.7 billion came from organic growth within the advice sector as “advisers increasingly view managed account services as their preferred service model for certain client segments”, while the remaining $4.1 billion stemmed from new MDA providers being added to the census.

“This is a growth rate of approximately 25 per cent per annum, and this is before several of the large platforms have begun to properly implement the managed account capability they are just now developing,” Mr Potter said.

“Taking out the new participants from the MDA data gives annual growth rates of 25-30 per cent for SMA and MDA.”

The “varied nature of the managed account services and business models able to be offered” were the likely drivers of the adviser sector's uptake of these products, Mr Potter said.