Morgan Stanley (MS), the world’s largest seller of managed accounts, is phasing out a managed mutual fund program. As reported by Reuters, this Wall Street investment brokerage firm is planning to shed its TRAK Fund Solution program.
Brokers of Morgan Stanley were informed about the planned phase out of TRAK in May. Participation of new investors in TRAK was closed on Jul 1.
Created in 1994, TRAK had $34.7 billion of assets as of Jun 30. It offers investors a choice from 300 actively managed mutual funds.
In fact, many other brokerage firms apart from Morgan Stanley are redesigning their managed accounts businesses so as to reduce paper work and generate a unified and more technology-oriented pricing system. The Merrill Lynch wealth management division of Bank of America Corporation (BAC) has planned to consolidate five of its managed account programs into the Merrill One platform by the end of 2015.
The new and improved managed account technology platform will help brokers to easily monitor their client portfolio. Moreover, it will minimize paperwork, thus providing brokers with more time to serve their clients better and meet prospects.
Morgan Stanley currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Two better-ranked financial investment managers include Arlington Asset Investment Corp. (AI) and Piper Jaffray Companies (PJC). Both of these stocks sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
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