Nov 2 (Reuters) - U.S. money manager AllianceBernstein Holding LP (AB.N: Quote, Profile, Research) lost 48 client accounts in the U.K. and Ireland worth 3 billion pounds ($4.93 billion), the Wall Street Journal said, citing a source familiar with the company.

A total of 17 accounts in the manager's value strategies worth 1.7 billion pounds of assets and 31 accounts in its blend strategies worth 1.3 billion pounds were lost altogether, the source told the paper.

The money manager had assets under management of $498 billion at the end of September.

The account losses were a lag effect after last year's underperformance but the outlook for the business is positive, Claude Chene, chief executive of AllianceBernstein's business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, told the paper.

AllianceBernstein could not be immediately reached for a comment outside of regular U.S. business hours. ($1=.6087 POUND) (Reporting by Sakthi Prasad in Bangalore; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)