SEI added several proprietary and third-party managed separately managed accounts to its Managed Account Solutions program, including products from AllianceBernstein, Loomis Sayles and Parametric Portfolio Associates.
“Expanding our SMA offerings reflects our dedication to providing advisors with differentiated investment solutions that offer personalized strategies and access to, in our opinion, world-class portfolio management,” said Jim Smigiel, SEI chief investment officer and head of its investment management unit, in a statement. “We believe these offerings will provide advisors with robust options to help their clients achieve long-term financial success.”
The new strategies include AllianceBernstein’s AB Tax Aware Fixed Income (SMA) and AB Tax Aware Limited Duration (SMA). SEI’s suite already includes the AB Municipal Income Portfolio (SMA) and the AB Municipal Impact Portfolio (SMA) strategies.
In addition, SEI added Loomis Sayles’ Core Plus Fixed Income Managed Account, Core Fixed Income with Securitized Asset Fund Managed Account, Short Government Only Managed Account and Government Only Managed Account.
Lastly, SEI is adding Parametric’s Custom Core Global ex-U.S. ADR strategy.
As for its proprietary products, SEI unveiled the Systematic Global Dividend Yield Core and Systematic International Equity Core (ADR) strategies.
“By integrating these solutions, advisors gain access to a powerful suite of strategies and tools designed to optimize portfolio management and help clients achieve their financial goals,” Erich Holland, head of client experience for SEI’s advisor business, said in a statement.
A study by advisory firm Escalent earlier this year found that financial advisors continued to favor SMAs because of low fees and broad investment options. Advisors in Escalent’s survey expected to increase their average SMA allocations by 800 basis points to 26% between year-end 2023 and 2025. Advisors to high-net-worth investors are expected to increase SMA allocations from 23% to 31%.
AllianceBernstein Launches Balanced Direct Index Platform
In a separate announcement, AllianceBernstein unveiled its AB Tax Advantaged Balanced Direct Index portfolio, combining equities and municipal bonds into a core separately managed account.
The managed account includes automated tax loss harvesting across stocks and bonds and AB Intelligent Rebalancing, “which seeks to reduce the tax costs associated with rebalancing.”
The portfolios can be customized across asset-mix profiles, including growth, balanced and income, as well as a variety of indices.
It also launched AB Tax Advantaged Equity Direct Index and AB Tax Advantaged Strategic Research Balanced with Municipals, which are additions to equity-only direct indexing and tax-managed active multi-asset portfolios, respectively.
“Over the years, AB's municipal platform has become a pillar of the firm's high-net-worth brand while securing an industry-wide reputation as a leader in tax-optimized, technology-driven fixed income solutions,” Noel Archard, AB’s head of ETFs and portfolio solutions, said in a statement. “Combining equity direct indexing alongside municipals is a natural extension of our capabilities, allowing us to better serve our clients while seeking enhanced outcomes after tax.”
