SEI's Global Wealth Services Chosen by Bestinvest to Power Future Growth

LONDON, Oct. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- SEI (Nasdaq: SEIC) today announced that it has been selected by Bestinvest to provide its Global Wealth Services (GWS) offering to the firm.

With assets under management of around  4 billion pounds sterling, Bestinvest is one of the largest wealth managers in the U.K. and was recently named as Money Marketing's Best Investment Adviser. Bestinvest will leverage SEI's experience in wealth processing and capitalize on their knowledge of the market to consolidate assets onto one common infrastructure.

This strategic partnership will enable Bestinvest to enhance their client experience, establish a foundation for future growth, and offer clients access to a broader range of wealth management services. At the core of SEI's offering, the Global Wealth Platform (GWP) will provide Bestinvest with the ability to manage all their advisory, discretionary, and execution-only businesses with straight-through processing via a single, integrated platform.  

Joseph P. Ujobai, Executive Vice President, SEI's Global Wealth Services, said:

"The signing of a high-profile strategic partner such as Bestinvest highlights the continued success of SEI's Global Wealth Services as a core infrastructure proposition in the U.K. market. Our commitment to providing innovative technology and operations solutions enables firms to increase efficiency, focus on business development, and enhance their client experience. Bestinvest shares our ongoing commitment to growth and we are uniquely positioned to support them in achieving their goals.

"Bestinvest is our fourth new U.K., client this year and further demonstrates SEI's broad offering and our ability to benefit a diverse range of firm types through our Global Wealth Services solution."

Commenting on the announcement, Peter Hall, CEO, Bestinvest said:

"As one of the largest U.K. wealth managers, a proven track record in providing wealth processing solutions to clients and a commitment to service were crucial when selecting a strategic partner. SEI's understanding and shared vision to develop a market-leading proposition, combined with their innovative solutions, is aligned with our business model and future plans for growth. We look forward to developing this relationship with SEI and benefiting from their in-depth knowledge of the global wealth management market"

About SEI's Global Wealth Services

SEI's Global Wealth Services is an outsourcing solution for wealth managers combining wealth processing technology and wealth management programs, coupled with business process expertise. The integrated offering aims to provide wealth management organizations the infrastructure, operations and administrative support necessary to capitalize on their strategic objectives in a constantly shifting market.

At the heart of the solution lies the Global Wealth Platform (GWP), which supports trading and transactions on 100 stock exchanges in 53 countries and 31 currencies, all using straight-through processing. For more information, visit www.seic.com/pwi.

About SEI

SEI (Nasdaq: SEIC) is a leading global provider of outsourced asset management, investment processing and investment operations solutions. The company's innovative solutions help corporations, financial institutions, financial advisors, and affluent families create and manage wealth. As of September 30, 2010, through its subsidiaries and partnerships in which the company has a significant interest, SEI administers $402 billion in mutual fund and pooled assets and manages $164 billion in assets. SEI serves clients, conducts or is registered to conduct business and/or operations, from numerous offices worldwide. For more information, visit http://www.seic.com.

About Bestinvest:

Bestinvest, founded in 1986, is one of the country's most successful financial advisory companies and following the recent acquisition of HW Financial Services, currently looks after client assets exceeding  3.6 billion pounds sterling. The company pioneered the concept of providing investment advice with discounted investment charges and is still only one of a handful of companies to offer such a service.  In addition to its core advisory business, Bestinvest has built a broad range of services including financial planning, tax planning and discretionary investment management.  Despite the recession Bestinvest has continued to expand and now boasts the largest and most experienced investment teams in its history. 3i and funds managed by 3i backed the buyout of Bestinvest in 2007.

www.bestinvest.co.uk

SOURCE SEI