Regional bank wants to give its advisors means to compete with wirehouses. Memphis, Tenn.-based First Tennessee Bank has added three additional products to its Horizon Account managed account platform in partnership with third-party investment provider FundQuest: index-enhanced mutual fund portfolios, unified managed accounts (UMA), and ETFs.

The result is eight new fee-based account offerings on top of First Tennessee's existing platform, which features two mutual fund portfolio solutions, an advisor choice product and two separately managed account products.

Toolset

"The new products complement our current offering to deliver a comprehensive and highly competitive platform," says First Tennessee's wealth-management head Rhomes Aur. "These important new capabilities will enhance our advisors ability to address the specific needs of each investor client."

SMA assets hit the $1.5-trillion mark in the third quarter of 2007, according to the Money Management Institute; a better than 200% increase over the total at year end 2003. The models-based subset of SMAs -- UMAs and multiple-discipline accounts -- accounted for about $120 billion in June 2007, according to Cerulli Associates.

First Tennessee's tie-in with FundQuest "provides their advisors with the tools to compete very effectively with wirehouses and regional brokerages," says David Robinson, director of national accounts at Boston-based FundQuest. "The product breadth offered on the Horizon Account, coupled with FundQuest's back-office capabilities, takes their platform to another level of sophistication."

First Tennessee's corporate parent, Memphis, Tenn.-based First Horizon National Corporation, provides financial services to individuals and businesses in more than 40 states through First Tennessee, First Horizon Bank and FTN Financial.

Fundquest is a subsidiary of Paris-based BNP Paribas. It has $43 billion in assets under management and administration in the U.S. Europe. -FWR

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