Managed Account Assets Grow 5.5% Last Quarter

August 08, 2001, 1:00 a.m. EDT 1 Min Read

First Quarterly Growth Since 2Q 2000

Total individually managed account assets experienced net growth in the second quarter for the first time in a year, the Money Management Institute announced. Assets grew to $403.1 billion, up about 5.5% from the end of March.

At the end of the second quarter of last year, total assets in managed accounts stood at approximately $438.5 billion, according to MMI. By the end of the first quarter this year, those assets had fallen nearly 13% to $382.1 billion.

Mutual fund assets mirrored managed account assets for the same period. Total fund assets declined from the end of the first quarter 2000 to the end of the first quarter 2001 by 9.2%. However, this year assets increased 4.7% in the first quarter to the second quarter, according to the Investment Company Institute.

'Long-term trends in wealth accumulation will favor increasing acceptance of managed accounts by high net worth individuals whose needs are becoming more complex,' said Michael Feigles, first VP of Merrill Lynch's Managed Assets Group, in an MMI statement. 'The growth of 401(k) retirement plans and other participant-directed investment programs - along with the dramatic intergenerational transfer of assets anticipated over the next two decades - is helping to create a new 'wealth class' with significant assets who can benefit from managed accounts.'

The increasing adoption of financial advisor services among high-net-worth investors will continue, and that will further drive attention to managed accounts, said Feigles.