A fund industry veteran has put together a product that aims to compete with mutual funds. Howard Present formerly of Evergreen Investments and Putnam Investments, has gathered together some veterans of the SMA world to put together a new SMA product that has lower minimums and fees than traditional separately managed accounts.

The new "individually managed account" (IMA) from F-Squared Investments, Present's new company, has lower minimums and fees than traditional separately managed accounts. This puts it in a position to better compete with mutual funds for retail investors, Present, now president and CEO of F-Squared Investments told the in an interview.

The new IMAs will feature a minimum investment of $15,000, with a fee of 55 bps all in. "The third feature that makes the IMA special is the use of an overlay manager," Present said. For this F-Squared uses Smartleaf Inc., which allows advisors access to better customization and tax management options.

The IMA will invest based on- F-Squared's ActiFindexes, which put Present's mutual fund expertise in the spotlight. They invest in the stocks owned by the top 10 funds in a class, not the actual funds.

Present also mentioned that F-Squared is looking into launching actively managed ETFs and hiring one or two sales people.  

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