Schwab Unveils Managed Account Advisor Product

A news release said the company, which provides the independent advisors custodial, operational and trading support, said its Managed Account Access enables advisors to tap into managers without working out separate contracts, fees and minimum account sizes.

Pre-negotiated account minimums are $100,000 for most equity strategies and $250,000 for fixed income, while fees start at 1% or lower and include money manager services and Schwab’s custody and brokerage services, the news release said.

“Our managed account platform is designed to provide independent advisors with choice, flexibility and top-notch support,” said John Morris, senior vice president of Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.. in the news release. “This new offering can provide advisors who are comfortable doing their own manager research with access to a broad array of managers and styles, with the smoother administrative backbone provided by a bundled program.”

Schwab Institutional’s managed account services also include Managed Account Select, a bundled solution featuring manager research and review by Callan Associates, Inc., and Managed Account Marketplace, an open-architecture, dual-contract platform with a wide selection of money managers.

Managed Account Access is launching with 22 strategies, including five US Trust strategies. Two Charles Schwab Investment Management strategies based on Schwab Equity Ratings will be added in September 2005. Finally, the news release said that Schwab is in negotiations with various top investment managers to join the Access platform by year end.

Schwab’s managed account platform has more than $18 billion in assets and is the sixth largest in the industry overall, according to recent Cerulli data. The platform has grown 25% in the last year, including the addition of $1.7 billion new assets in the first six months of 2005, the news release said.

More information about the Schwab unit is at  http://www.schwabinstitutional.com .