American Skandia of Shelton, Conn. has introduced the American Skandia Asset Management Portfolios, a new group of mutual fund wrap products which will allow financial professionals to charge a fee for providing them, according to the company.
These products are different than other wrap programs in that they offer a choice of 200 mutual funds, not just American Skandia funds, according to the announcement. American Skandia used its investment selection process to determine which funds would be offered. It focused on historical performance, longevity of managers, and pureness of investment objectives, said Patricia Abram, senior vice president and director of variable life insurance and wrap products for American Skandia.
"To date, mutual fund wrap programs throughout the industry have been limited to packaged mutual funds where investor profiling has determined asset allocation, usually fulfilled with a limited selection of in-house' mutual funds," according to American Skandia.
The mutual fund pre-screening,' portfolio models, and web-enabled services offered through American Skandia Asset Management Portfolios create enough value to allow financial professionals to charge a fee for services rather than receive commissions, said Abram.
"There are a lot of people in the industry who have tried to create fee-based wrap programs, but due to a lack of training, lack of the right products and not enough value-added ability, have been unable to do it," said Abram. "We believe these programs have those things."
