Significant period of growth for SEI’s UK fiduciary management business

LONDON, 27 April, 2016 – SEI (NASDAQ:SEIC) today announced that the UK Fiduciary Management business has experienced significant growth in clients over the last 12 months (as of 31 March 2016). The company’s UK office added 14 new pension schemes, all secured through competitive tenders. New clients added over this time period include: SIG Retirement Benefits, UK Power Networks Pension Scheme, HPG Pension Scheme (The UK DB scheme for Axalta Coatings) and Amey OS Plan. In an interesting trend, indicative of the lengthening history of Fiduciary Management, SEI has started to secure more business from schemes that have previously appointed a Fiduciary Manager, and wish to retain the approach with a different provider.
Client results are of paramount importance to SEI and are a key reason stated by clients for both appointing and retaining SEI as a Fiduciary Manager. The company has continued to invest in both personnel and technology in order to ensure that a high level of client satisfaction is retained. In tandem with a growth in clients, SEI has expanded its Fiduciary Management team with the addition of several senior hires including Cai Rees, a Director for SEI’s Institutional Advice Team and Brian McCauley, a Director in SEI’s Client Service Team. In January 2015, SEI also announced that it had selected RiskFirst as a technology partner in order to utilise the firm’s unique pensions technology expertise.
SEI attributes its recent success to a number of factors; most importantly, the company’s heritage, experience and tenure as a specialist Fiduciary Manager. Recognising the potential conflicts involved,  SEI sold its investment consulting business in 1994 in order to focus on a Fiduciary Management approach and is the longest standing specialist Fiduciary Manager globally.
Commenting on the success of the UK business, Patrick Disney, Managing Director of SEI’s Institutional Group for EMEA and Asia said:
“SEI’s significant growth in the UK serves as a testament to our Fiduciary Management solution which is tailored to each client’s specific funding objectives. The focus for our business is on delivering client results and we are committed to investing in our infrastructure to ensure client success. The expansion of our client base also underscores a growing consensus in the market that a specialist approach is desired to manage funding levels successfully. Clients are able to take advantage of our innovative approach to LDI strategies and the scale of our investment platform.
“Our specialist approach is particularly important in the light of the forthcoming FCA asset management market study, which includes a consideration of the role of investment consultants and whether potential conflicts of interest arise in the provision, by investment consultants, of both advice and asset management services. Fiduciary Management now has a significant tenure in the UK and we are pleased to see more schemes switching providers as they recognize the benefits of the Fiduciary Management approach, but wish to select a specialist. We expect this trend to continue over the coming years.”