Nuveen, TIAA’s investment manager, has launched the Nuveen High Income Municipal SMA, expanding its separately managed account (SMA) platform and enhancing its nearly $200 billion municipal bond offerings for wealth clients. 

The new SMA provides access to high yield municipal bonds across Nuveen’s platform, which includes mutual funds, closed-end funds, ETFs, SMAs, model portfolios, LPs, and an interval fund. This launch follows the introduction of two actively managed municipal ETFs in January 2025. 

The strategy targets non-investment grade and investment grade tax-exempt bonds, utilizing Nuveen’s specialized credit research team to create a portfolio focused on higher tax-free income, a solution not widely available in the SMA format. The portfolio allocates at least 40% to investment grade bonds and up to 60% to high yield bonds. 

“The current $1.6 trillion muni SMA market has been dominated largely by high grade strategies, with few offering true high yield exposure,” said Daniel Close, head of municipals at Nuveen. “Our High Income Municipal SMA offers the potential to generate attractive levels of income for investors seeking high tax-exempt yields with enhanced total return potential as well as the tax benefits of an SMA.”