Safeguard your assets

SEI Private Trust Company has built a strong reputation in the financial services industry, which has led to 95 U.S. private banks and trust companies using our services to support their businesses.¹

Here’s what’s in place to safeguard your assets. 

You’ve read the news reports in recent years of massive fraud perpetrated on investors like yourself. You may even become more concerned about protecting your assets from fraud or institutional failure. 

So it’s reassuring to know that, as a federally chartered limited-purpose savings association, SEI Private Trust Company adheres to extensive federally mandated controls designed to prevent fraudulent activity. Moreover, these control measures are audited by both independent and internal auditors. As a limited-purpose savings association, SEI Private Trust Company is also subject to examination by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC).

Our internal controls and policies are for your ultimate protection.

SEI Private Trust Company does not commingle your assets with its own or other investors. Many brokers and banks can commingle investor funds. They can lend securities, offer margin lending and use their clients’ assets as collateral for their own borrowing. Unfortunately, this commingling of funds has been a factor in fraud situations.

As a trust company, SEI Private Trust Company cannot commingle funds or use client funds in its own account for any use—lending or otherwise—because all client assets are held in an account under the client’s name. SEI Private Trust Company does not participate in margin lending. Margin lending, in which client assets are used as collateral for the broker’s or bank’s lending activities, has also been seen as a primary cause of at least one high-profile failure. SEI Private Trust Company cannot pledge, lend or margin client assets that are held in its custody.

SEI Private Trust Company—not an outside firm—maintains custody of all client assets. Perhaps the largest fraud in financial history was perpetrated through manipulation of custody records for client accounts. SEI does not allow custody of client assets by any of the investment firms with which we work. Instead, all assets are held at SEI Private Trust Company. While our third-party money managers are responsible for security selection, we do not send client funds to these firms. We do not purchase products from these firms. They are simply granted access to trade securities on our platform, which we then monitor. And even though we do not allow outside firms to custody our clients’ assets, we still perform rigorous due diligence on them. 

Other safeguards and services for your protection

Insurance

To help protect investors from employee errors and omissions events, SEI maintains a current Errors and Omissions Professional Liability policy. In addition, we provide fidelity bond coverage for protection against employee dishonesty, including forgery or alteration, premises, transit, counterfeit currency, computer systems, and other coverages. 

Services

As the custodian of your financial assets, SEI Private Trust Company is responsible for the following services:

• Safekeeping. Storage of your financial assets
• Reporting package. Periodic statement reporting that details your account value and activity, quarterly performance reports, and year-end tax reporting to assist you in completing your income tax forms
• Trade settlement. Receipt and delivery of securities and collection and distribution of proceeds from purchases and sales
• Income distribution. Collection and payment of dividends and interest payments
• Custodian-to-custodian transfers. Accounting for the movement of securities from and to other custodians › Cash processing. Collection of assets and distribution of withdrawals
• Corporate action accounting. Accounting for activities such as stock splits and mergers

Important to remember

• Since SEI Private Trust Company is a trust institution—not a bank or brokerage firm—your assets are segregated from its own assets and your assets are custodied in your name. This means SEI Private Trust Company creditors have no claim to your assets. 
• SEI Private Trust Company, like other trust companies, may not pledge, lend or margin assets that are held in custody. 
• Providing a final layer of protection, SEI Private Trust Company is regularly audited by independent and internal auditors, and is subject to routine examination by the OCC. 
• Since January 2001, high-net-worth investors have relied on SEI Private Trust Company, in cooperation with their financial advisors, for confidentiality and safekeeping of their assets. And we pledge to continue to earn that trust by providing security and safety for your assets every day. 

¹ As of 12/31/22
 

Legal disclaimer:

SEI Private Wealth Management is an umbrella name for various wealth services provided through SEI Investments Management Corporation (SIMC), a registered investment advisor. SIMC is a wholly owned subsidiary of SEI Investments Company. Investing involves risk including possible loss of principal.