{"id":679656,"date":"2026-09-09T03:51:21","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T03:51:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/679656\/"},"modified":"2026-09-09T03:51:21","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T03:51:21","slug":"the-winners-losers-of-the-managed-accounts-boom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/679656\/","title":{"rendered":"The winners & losers of the managed accounts boom"},"content":{"rendered":"

Managed portfolios now account for 30\u00a0per cent\u00a0of total advised FUA, up from just 16\u00a0per cent\u00a0in 2021,\u00a0but only some sectors will be winners from this boom.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

According to\u00a0the North Managed Portfolio insights report for September, it\u00a0identified\u00a0four winners and four losers.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\nWinners<\/b>\u00a0<\/td>\nLosers<\/b>\u00a0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nBusinesses at scale\u00a0<\/td>\n\u2018Me-too\u2019 providers\u00a0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nInstitutional investment capability\u00a0<\/td>\nPractices building in-house portfolio\u00a0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nManaged portfolios\u00a0built on strong governance\u00a0<\/td>\nLegacy providers\u00a0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nTech providers connecting advisers\u00a0<\/td>\nFund managers outside managed portfolio ecosystems\u00a0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Source: North, September 2026<\/p>\n

Winners\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Existing\u00a0managed account operators\u00a0who have been able to scale their businesses have\u00a0benefited\u00a0from this\u00a0rise in usage, with\u00a0the report\u00a0identifying\u00a0that\u00a0five providers\u00a0already\u00a0handle\u00a0more\u00a0than\u00a0$20 billion in managed accounts\u00a0between them.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

North\u00a0also argues that with\u00a0managed accounts, advisers can use the investment\u00a0expertise,\u00a0scale\u00a0and resources of a large professional investment manager to build and manage portfolios. All while\u00a0the adviser still\u00a0handles the client relationship and\u00a0remains\u00a0the main point of contact, even if an external manager is running the investments.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Those\u00a0managed accounts\u00a0built on strong governance, and tech builders connecting advisers, were also\u00a0among\u00a0the winners.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

North\u2019s own managed portfolios\u00a0reached $28.3 billion in funds under management\u00a0at the end of FY26. This\u00a0represents\u00a0a\u00a031\u00a0per cent\u00a0increase from the year prior, with\u00a0North adding\u00a063 new portfolios, and four new portfolio managers over the past 6 months.\u00a0<\/p>\n

AI and retirement income thematics\u00a0were\u00a0proving popular among advisers\u00a0according to NMG.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Industry experts also point that managed accounts can be a\u00a0boost\u00a0for income and retirement.\u00a0Alex Berlee,\u00a0director of AGS Financial Group\u00a0said they see\u00a0momentum in the space,\u00a0increasing focus on the product.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIn terms of retirement income,\u00a0we\u2019ve\u00a0implemented specific retirement SMAs to provide more stable, income-focused portfolios.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Losers<\/strong><\/p>\n

Looking at stakeholders that have lagged or may continue lagging, North\u00a0identified\u00a0the \u2018me-too\u2019\u00a0providers, those late comers\u00a0who rush into\u00a0providing the\u00a0investment solution\u00a0without strong governance and genuine investment\u00a0expertise.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Further,\u00a0North\u2019s report points out under-resourced practices building their portfolios\u00a0in-house\u00a0and\u00a0legacy providers, used to previously established practices, and less adaptable to change.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Overall, North\u00a0warns of the downside for fund managers and product manufacturers\u00a0who choose\u00a0to stay outside\u00a0the\u00a0managed portfolio ecosystem\u00a0and lose out on potential market share.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lessons and outlook<\/strong><\/p>\n

North, which manages\u00a0portfolios, recommends\u00a0following\u00a0this model of\u00a0including\u00a0managed portfolios\u00a0as part of\u00a0an\u00a0operating model,\u00a0rather than\u00a0just as a product.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It says firms that have done\u00a0so\u00a0report greater capacity to take on new clients.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The report\u00a0also\u00a0finds\u00a0that\u00a0Australia\u00a0tends to follow\u00a0trends already\u00a0established\u00a0in the US\u00a0and\u00a0the UK, where managed portfolios\u00a0grew stronger earlier.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Looking ahead, the report identifies customisation as being \u201cthe single biggest driver\u201d of the next phase of managed portfolios. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Aequitas Investment Partners chief executive officer Nino Ramunno noted there has been\u00a0a\u00a0growing demand for portfolio personalisation and outsourced investment\u00a0expertise.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPractices want solutions that reflect their brand and investment beliefs while taking advantage of institutional-quality governance and portfolio management,\u201d Ramunno said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Andrew Yap, head of portfolio solutions at Zenith Investment Partners, added managedaccounts support advisers\u2019 processes in a changing advisory landscape.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWith fewer advisers and growing client demand, managed portfolios provide a clear pathway to efficiency; automating trading, rebalancing and reporting, and freeing up adviser time for client engagement.\u201d Yap said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Managed portfolios now account for 30\u00a0per cent\u00a0of total advised FUA, up from just 16\u00a0per cent\u00a0in 2021,\u00a0but only some…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":679657,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[177],"tags":[104744,79,18,19,53875,17,197508,10940,234,235],"class_list":["post-679656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-amp","tag-business","tag-eire","tag-ie","tag-imap","tag-ireland","tag-managed-accounts","tag-north","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117239053443673364","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/679656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=679656"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/679656\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/679657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=679656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=679656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=679656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}