One of SEI’s newer clients had taken over pension funds from two recently acquired companies. Lacking previous experience in handling these pension funds, they turned to their consultant to research and advise on possible options for managing them. The consultant recommendation was a Manager of Managers approach in preference to their previous experience using a single manager.

As the HR Manager said, “the fact that we would have experts in each of the markets and therefore they would be able to concentrate more on their particular speciality rather than one person looking at a range of funds was what we felt would work best for us.” SEI was the chosen provider based on the experience gained in the US.

The client recognised that the Manager of Managers approach was relatively new in the UK so based their decision on a company with a proven track record in a much larger and more developed market. The US experience gave the client confidence in their choice.

In addition, specific aspects of the SEI process stood out: the careful way managers are selected and monitored and especially, that poor performing managers could and would be quickly replaced. “We felt confident that if we had a downturn in a particular sector, the SEI management would be able to remove those poor managers from the basket of commodities we were looking at.”

The client especially praised SEI's customer service describing the way clients are handled and the company’s general responsiveness as one of the key features that differentiates SEI from their competitors.