Wachovia adds JPMorgan behavorial value strategy

FWR Staff

6 June 2007

Bank brokerage puts psychological twist on unified managed account program. Wachovia Securities has selected JPMorgan Asset Management's behaviorally driven JPMorgan Intrepid Value strategy for its Diversified Managed Allocations account platform.

Behavioral finance strategies combine psychology with disciplined investment processes as they attempt to capitalize on market anomalies that occur as a result of irrational though predictable investor behavior.

Increased interest

"JPMorgan launched a series of behavioral strategies in the U.S. after successfully launching our investment process in the U.K. and Europe over a decade ago," says JPMorgan Funds CEO George Gatch. "With a four-year track record and strong performance in the Intrepid portfolios, we are experiencing increased interest in our behavioral strategies and managed accounts, and are proud to be a leader in making these strategies available to investors through Wachovia Securities."

Silvio Tarca, Robert Weller and Jason Alonzo manage the Intrepid Value strategy.

Wachovia's DMA -- a unified managed account program that blends separately managed accounts and mutual funds -- has an investment minimum of $150,000, though the average account has $700,000. The program had $12.5 billion in assets at the end of 2006, up from $8.8 billion at the end of 2005.

The Intrepid Value fund will also be available on Wachovia's FundSource, CustomChoice, Asset Advisor, Pilot Plus and PIM programs.

Behavioral-finance strategies accounted for $96 billion of JPMorgan Asset Management's $1.1 trillion in assets under management on 31 March 2007. -FWR