Assante Wealth Management today announced the launch of the Institutional Managed Portfolios, which offer investors a multi-manager, multi-asset, multi-style managed portfolio program, for a fee that can be negotiated between investors and advisors.

“This is really a breakthrough for affluent investors who want access to leading institutional investment managers,” says Joe Canavan, chairman of Assante.

The individual pool advisors include: Daniel Bubis, president of Tetrem Capital Partners; Thomas Sassi, managing director of Deutsche Investment Management Americas; Eric Bushell, senior vp of portfolio management and CIO of CI Investments’ Signature Advisors; David Picton, president, and Mike Mahoney, a principal, of Picton Mahoney Asset Management; Peter Hodson, vp of Waterfall Investments; William Priest, CEO and portfolio manager of Epoch Investment Partners; and John Hock, CIO of Altrinsic Global Advisors.

Commencing September 1, the portfolios will have fixed administration fees, resulting in lower costs and greater transparency for investors.

Assante says it will bear all of the operating expenses of the funds (other than taxes and new governmental fees) in return for fixed administration fees. This means that the management expense ratio for each investment pool will become relatively fixed and predictable for all future years and currently will be the sum of each portfolio’s administration fee, management fee and taxes.

“We are creating transparent pricing and a level of consistency between the management fee and the MER that is just being introduced into the marketplace. Investors do not always realize that operating expenses vary significantly among managed money programs and among wealth management companies, leading to wide variations in the costs borne by investors,” says Steve Donald, president and COO of Assante. “Our approach ensures that investors will know exactly what they are paying to invest, now and in the future.”

Assante says its approach to fees makes it much easier for investors to compare the cost of the new portfolios with other investment programs and other companies’ funds.