Advisers who have adopted managed accounts are reaping benefits such as saving more than 14 hours a week and generating additional revenue from advice fees, according to new research.
The BT/Investment Trends Managed Accounts Research Paper revealed the average 14.4 hours of time saved per week in administration and compliance work allowed 4.8 hours per week for business development activities and more time in front of clients.
This meant advisers could service more clients, and provide more holistic advice, which could potentially generate additional revenue of $45,000 per annum from advice fees.
BT national manager of product development, Russell Brinckley said: “Despite historic perceptions that managed accounts are the domain of high net worth (HNW) clients, advisers are increasingly seeing opportunities for managed accounts among their broader client base”.
The use of managed accounts grew for the fifth consecutive year, with 26 per cent now recommending these solutions, up from 22 per cent in 2016. This was the largest year-on-year increase to date.
In 2017, advisers wanted to focus on ongoing client engagement (61 per cent), building efficiency in their practices (53 per cent), and client acquisition/prospecting (45 per cent).
The online survey of 233 financial advisers, which included 85 managed account users and 148 non-users, showed advisers recommended managed accounts for a number of reasons including investment transparency (64 per cent), greater practice efficiency (62 per cent), and access to professional investment managers (46 per cent).
A further 20 per cent of advisers intended to recommend managed accounts in the near future.
