Advisers using managed accounts are saving on average, 14.4 hours per week in administration and compliance work, according to new research by BT.
The research also found that this time saving for advisers who recommend managed accounts, provided them with the ability to service more clients, potentially enabling them to generate additional revenue of $45,000 per annum from advice fees.
BT’s National Manager of Product Development, Russell Brinckley said the findings demonstrate why the take up of managed accounts is growing so rapidly, as advisers seek new ways to save time, reduce paperwork and have more time to spend on holistic advice.
According to Brinckley, the areas that advisers increasingly want to focus on are:
- ongoing client engagement (61 per cent);
- building efficiency in their practices (53 per cent); and
- client acquisition/prospecting (45 per cent).
According to the Investment Trends April 2017 Planner Direct Equities & Managed Accounts Report, use of managed accounts has increased for the fifth consecutive year, with one-quarter of advisers (26 per cent) now recommending these solutions, up from 22 per cent in 2016 – the largest year-on-year increase to date.
Intention to recommend managed accounts is also strong, with a further 20 per cent of advisers intending to recommend managed accounts in the near future.
“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,” Brinckley said.
The BT research, which was undertaken by Investment Trends, showed advisers had a wide range of reasons for recommending managed accounts, but the most popular were:
- investment transparency (64 per cent);
- greater practice efficiency (62 per cent); and
- access to professional investment managers (46 per cent).
“We think managed accounts are the natural next step in practice efficiency, providing advisers and licensees the opportunity for scale, to be more nimble and to deliver more personalised advice to more clients,” Brinckley said.
Advisers who recommend managed accounts
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46 average age
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114 average number of active clients
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18 average number of clients acquired in last 12 months
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$65m average FUA
