RIA custodian positions itself for wirehouse business with SMA supermarket. TD Ameritrade's Institutional (TDAI) division is set to roll out a new unified managed account (UMA) program featuring overlay management from third-party investment-platform provider Placemark Investments early in 2009.

"This will allow us to deliver a sophisticated managed account platform to advisors, including tax management, asset transition analysis and sleeve-level performance reporting," says Brian Stimpfl, head of advisor advocacy and industry affairs at TD Ameritrade. "We strongly believe in the development of products that allow independent advisors to provide innovative wealth-management solutions to their clients."

Just like home

UMAs are single-account investment products that typically feature combinations of manager-model separately managed accounts (SMA), mutual funds and ETFs. Overlay management is the process of aligning trading activity, managing cash flow and enhancing the overall tax efficiency of such portfolios.

There was $31.8 billion in UMAs at the end of June 2007, says Boston-based research firm Cerulli Associates. There was another $88 billion or so in multiple-discipline accounts (MDA) , which feature distinct managed account sleeves in a single account, according to the Money Management Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based association of SMA managers and program sponsors.

Having access to fee-based accounts gives advisors "tremendous opportunities when dealing with high-net-worth investors and families," according to Placemark's executive v.p. Randy Bullard.

TDAI also provides access to Boston-based FundQuest's Select Portfolio Solutions platform, which includes a UMA, and to an SMA-only platform sponsored by Chicago-based Envestnet. Earlier in 2007, TDAI tapped custom-platform consultancy Capital Market Consultants (CMC) to support its UMA program.

TD Ameritrade rivals like Schwab and Fidelity say they're seeing an increase in new RIA business in the midst of a financial crisis that has tarnished the reputations of big-brand banks and brokerages -- institutions that, by and large, have been giving their advisors access to UMAs for the past five or six years.

Addison, Texas, and Wellesley, Mass.-based Placemark provides active overlay management of fee-based, models-based programs. Its clients include BMO Nesbitt Burns, RBC Wealth Management (formerly RBC Dain Rauscher), Homrich & Berg and Oppenheimer Asset Management.

Our survey says

Jersey City, N.J.-based TD Ameritrade is also highlighting the results of a broad-based consumer survey that shows fee-based independents as the advisors of choice these days.

With 92% of Americans saying they're worried about their family's financial security and stability, more than half of them think they'd benefit from the services of a financial advisor, according to a survey sponsored by TD Ameritrade.

When asked to rank the person most likely to provide the best financial advice, independent financial advisors (38%) came out on top by a wide margin, followed by friends and family (24%) and an accountant (18%).

When asked whom they would feel more comfortable receiving financial advice from, 60% picked "someone who is paid a flat fee or percentage of assets" and 23% picked "a person who is paid on commission for products they sell."

"With the volatility and tensions in the markets, the need for sound financial advice is increasing on a daily basis," says Stimpfl. "The fiduciary obligations of [RIAs] require them to work with their clients' best interests in mind, which can put them at the forefront of options for investors."

The telephone survey of 1,005 adult Americans was conducted for TD Ameritrade by Opinion Research in mid September 2008.

TDAI provides brokerage and custody services to nearly 5,000 RIAs. -FWR

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