Short Takes: Bank Brokers' Fund Wrap Business Falls Off

The mutual fund wrap account business at banks is losing ground, according to a study.

While the business accounted for 1% of gross revenue at bank broker-dealers in 1997, that number had fallen to 0.6% by last year, according to a study by Kenneth Kehrer Associates of Princeton, N.J.

The reason for the declining importance of bank wrap accounts, which are catching on fast at nonbank brokerages, seems to be that though they are more profitable in the long run, they are less lucrative in the short term than the existing commission-based sales model.

"Income pressures on the broker-dealers are discouraging them from pushing that product," Mr. Kehrer said.

The findings were culled from a survey of 55 banks, which account for 53% of all investment sales at banks.

Wrap accounts, in which investors pay an annual fee based on assets under management, attracted $20 billion in new investments last year, up 15% from 1997, according to Strategic Insight, a New York-based research firm. -- Stephen Garmhausen

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
MORE FROM AMERICAN BANKER