According to a recent report from Morgan Stanley, the managed accounts industry is tipped to hit $60 billion by 2020. It’s a landmark opportunity for managed account operators, MDA Operators (managed discretionary account) and financial advisers but also a challenge for an industry weighed down by inefficient technology and processes.

Even the technologies purported to reduce the administration burden of managed accounts only deal with one or two parts of the equation. This leaves advisers moving back and forth between several tools or systems to complete portfolio construction, rebalancing, compliance and reporting administration tasks.

Both the cost and effort of providing managed account services is high in this scenario, making it difficult for advisers to provide tailored services or scale their business. It also hampers innovation and the ability for advisers to improve portfolio management and performance.

A more disruptive approach is required to help advisers take advantage of growing demand for directly held asset portfolio’s and managed account services. That’s where MA Operator comes in.

For the past two years we’ve been working to address the pain points in the managed accounts industry and are excited to launch a solution that allows advisers to manage client investments far more easily than before. Our proprietary software removes the cost and administration time from a range of processes currently managed under numerous systems. The software also enables advisers to set up, execute and monitor direct portfolios in a fraction of the time they can currently.

It’s independent, providing users with the flexibility to use any model or asset allocation and tailor each client portfolio to their particular preferences. Choice of bank, broker, customer relationship management system and advice tools remains in the hands of the adviser or dealer group.

MA Operator even allows dealer groups to execute client trades in bulk when rebalancing portfolios, saving time and giving fairer outcomes to clients.

It really is set to disrupt an industry which for too long has relied on manual effort and a long list of bolt-on products and services to achieve just incremental improvements.