Snowball Group is investigating the investment management agreement (IMA), separately managed accounts (SMA) and managed discretionary accounts (MDA) markets with a view to implementing one of the three systems for its investors.
"We think that in the new environment, there is some attraction around investors looking for greater flexibility around [exhange-traded funds], direct equities and managed funds. The issue becomes from a portfolio point of view, do IMAs, SMAs and MDAs lend themselves to some of those attributes?" said Snowball managing director Tony McDonald.
He added that Snowball was also looking for a greater sense of direction, control and visibility.
McDonald said that while it was too early to tell which account system Snowball would choose, the group hoped to have a greater idea by the end of the calendar year.
Snowball had been investigating the market in the last nine months, McDonald said.
The group was also looking at platforms that could support the account system it chose, as well as the right portfolio structure, McDonald said.
"Increasingly, we think that non-aligned dealer groups like ourselves will take greater control over that configuration. Part of the major drive that we have is a greater degree of control to deliver precisely what our customers want," he said.
