Tom Secaur Discusses Back Office Vendor Shakeout

J.P. Morgan Asset Management is ending its relationship with SEI as the distributor of its ETF line, bringing the business to units affiliated with the New York—ìbased bank instead.

The deal is the latest in a number of back-office swaps announced in recent weeks, and at least one consultant says plenty of other firms are gathering information to help decide whether to renew, tweak or end altogether the middle-office outsourcing deals coming up for renewal in the months ahead.

Meanwhile, financial pressure at the large custodian banks is forcing service providers and asset managers alike to evaluate whether a relationship with the other is a good—and profitable—fit.

Some of these pressures are starting to affect not just back-office deals but middle-office outsourcing contracts coming up for renewal, says Citisoft COO Tom Secaur. Firms are starting to gather fee data to benchmark costs and other information up to a year in advance of when a contract expires—a sign that firms are doing some soul-searching before they recommit.

For more intelligence on recent outsourcing swaps in the industry, read the full article on Ignites.