Managed Account Assets Surpass $15 Trillion in Q3 2025 - MMI-Cerulli Data
The newest edition of MMI-Cerulli Advisory Solutions Quarterly, with data through 9/30/2025, is now available for download.
Managed account assets continued their strong growth from Q2, increasing 6.9% to reach $15.8 trillion in Q3 2025. With a staggering two-year growth rate of 49.6%, managed account assets have increased by more than $5 trillion in that span. Bolstered by strong equity markets and an increasing shift toward fiduciary wealth management, managed accounts are expected to continue to exhibit robust growth. While all managed account program types experienced growth in Q3, ETF advisory (8.5%), rep-as-portfolio manager (8.1%), and separate account programs (8.0%) saw the largest increases.
Managed account programs experienced their strongest flows of the past year in Q3, with net flows of $299.9 billion. Separate accounts ($96.9 billion) and unified managed accounts ($95.1 billion) continue to be the largest recipients of new client assets, as they have been in each of the past four quarters. In contrast, rep-as-advisor programs (-$1.6 billion) posted their third consecutive quarter of net outflows. Direct indexing ($1,099 billion), municipal fixed income ($695 billion), and taxable fixed income ($421 billion) remain the top manager-traded SMA strategies, while the three large-cap equity categories continue to dominate model-delivered strategies.
Differing Product Priorities
This edition of Advisory Solutions Quarterly also examines how the product priorities of platform sponsors and asset managers differed in 2025.
Both asset managers and wealth managers seek to offer differentiated solutions to their clients; however, they differ in the products they are focusing on, as evidenced by their 2025 product preferences reported to Cerulli.
Despite strong headwinds to integrating alternatives into a wealth management platform alongside traditional products (e.g., liquidity, valuation), the top product priority for managed account sponsor firms is less-liquid alternatives (57%). Asset managers are focused on creating active ETFs, as 84% are planning to build these products. Due to their lower cost and relative tax efficiency when compared to mutual funds, managers are increasingly looking to either convert or clone their mutual fund lineups into an ETF structure.
Both asset and wealth managers share a desire to build and integrate more separate accounts into client portfolios, whether through a manager-traded construct or via model-delivery. SMAs offer the potential for increased personalization and lend themselves to improved tax management when compared to a pooled vehicle such as an ETF or mutual fund.
The charts below show how product solution priorities have evolved for platform sponsors and asset managers since 2023.
of platform sponsors identifying less-liquid alternatives as their top product priority in 2025
Priority Product Solutions for Managed Account Sponsors
2023 vs. 2025
| Product | 2023 | 2025 |
| Less-liquid alternatives private equity, private debt) | 49% | 57% |
| Direct index separate accounts | 64% | 43% |
| Model-delivered separate accounts | 41% | 39% |
| Manager-traded separate accounts | 31% | 32% |
Analyst Note: Sponsors and TAMPs were asked, "What investment solutions or products are you interest in adding to your platform from outside asset managers?"
Source: Cerulli Associates
of asset managers identifying active ETFs as their top product priority in 2025
Priority Product Solutions for Asset Managers
2023 vs. 2025
| Product | 2023 | 2025 |
| Active ETFs | 62% | 84% |
| Manager-traded separate accounts | 23% | 60% |
| Model-delivered separate accounts | 50% | 56% |
| Customized fixed-income solutions | 35% | 40% |
Analyst Note: Asset managers were asked, "What investment
solutions or products is your firm looking to create in 2025?"
Source: Cerulli Associates
Dive deeper into the report for insights in four key areas:
- Asset management distribution
- Long-term managed accounts industry trends
- Top-managed account program sponsors across all industry segments
- Asset allocation model portfolios
MMI-Cerulli Advisory Solutions Quarterly
The Advisory Solutions Quarterly periodical provides holistic analyses of the U.S. fee-based advisory industry, which includes sponsors (broker/dealer firms) that offer managed account programs and the asset managers that distribute those programs through their platforms.
MMI members can use this data to deepen their understanding of:
- Managed account program type assets and growth rates
- Quarterly managed account flows by program type
- Managed account sponsor firm assets at the program level
- Separate account manager assets at the trading discretion level
- Separate account asset classes in highest use by trading discretion type
MMI-Cerulli Advisory Solutions Data Portal
The sponsor and asset manager dashboards on the MMI-Cerulli Advisory Solutions Data portal on Cerulli’s Lodestar platform have now been updated with the Q3 2025 data. As a reminder, MMI members that contribute their advisory solutions data to Cerulli on a quarterly basis have access to this online portal. It allows users to take a deeper dive into the MMI-Cerulli dataset – with the ability to sort, filter and export the data for business planning and presentation purposes.
Contact
With questions on the report, access to the online portal, or contributing data:
Email mmidata@cerulli.com
For assistance accessing the Advisory Solutions Quarterly report:
Email info@mminst.org
