SEI’s Collective Investment Trust Business tops $100B in assets under administration

Oaks-based SEI, a leading provider of investment processing, investment management, and investment operations solutions, announced Monday that its collective investment trust (CIT) had increased 20.5 percent from a year ago, topping out at over $100 billion in assets under administration.

The company said that through SEI Trust Company, SEI had launched 39 funds across 11 global investment managers, increasing its CIT assets by over $17.3 billion in 2020.

“Many of our clients are adding target-date fund CITs to their investment portfolios to meet the customization requirements of plan sponsors and consultants,” said John Alshefski, senior vice president and managing director of SEI’s Investment Manager Services division. “CITs also offer investment managers and plan sponsor investors access to a wide variety of asset classes and multiple fee classes based on their size and relationship.”

The company attributed the growth in its CIT business to its established turnkey operational platform and its staff, which provided investment managers, retirement plans, consultants, and advisors access to its extensive CIT line-up. Additionally, the company said, its growth was driven by other factors, such as continued fee pressure and the demand for customized investment solutions for the retirement plan market.

According to Callan’s “2020 Defined Contribution Trends Survey,” an estimated 78 percent of plan sponsors said that CITs are on their investment menus, up 11 percent from 2019. Callan also said the number of retirement plans offering CITs to participants is increasing and could overtake mutual funds in the coming years.