Dreyfus Investments has joined DTCC’s Managed Accounts Service (MAS), a centralized platform for the industry, designed to streamline communications associated with opening and maintaining managed accounts.
The latest statistics put managed account assets at $790 billion at the end of the second quarter of 2007, according to The Money Management Institute. This includes separately managed accounts, unified managed accounts, and dual contract and multi-disciplined portfolios. Industry forecasts suggest this figure could reach $1.9 trillion by 2011.
DTCC’s MAS service will provide a single communications network and standard set of messages for a now-fragmented industry. Dreyfus is the latest in a growing list of firms actively working in DTCC’s participant test environment in advance of the launch of the service, which is scheduled for later this year.
“Automating and standardizing the data flow for these transactions will help our clients, reducing trade-related costs and risk and stimulating growth. We are pleased to partner with DTCC on this important initiative,” says Kevin Miller, senior vice president of Dreyfus Investments.
At present, most messages are transmitted from the managed account sponsor to asset managers that are hand-picked by the sponsor to invest and manage an investor’s funds. Depending on the size and complexity of an investor’s account, many asset managers can be involved and communicating back and forth with the sponsor on a single account.
“Multiply that by thousands of accounts, and the complexities of the communication between managers and sponsors can be a real burden,” says Ann Bergin, DTCC managing director and general manager, Wealth Management Services. “That’s the value of one central communications platform. We transform a complex web of communications into one streamlined process through a single gateway. The resulting efficiencies reduce operational costs and risk, and allow managers to better serve the investor client.”
Dreyfus Investments is a division of MBSC Securities Corporation, which is a subsidiary of The Dreyfus Corporation.