Mellon Global Securities Services (GSS), US Bancorp Fund Services and the InCap Group are among a number of mutual fund administrators in the United States that are either considering or providing mutual fund manages with marketing services.
Small to mid-sized fund managers, trying to get their fund families noticed amid stiff competition, are looking for support in getting their funds on various distribution platforms, hiring and training wholesalers and developing marketing materials.
“Once you get outside of managing money, anything beyond that is open for discussion in the outsourcing business,” says George Rios, mutual fund services product manager at Mellon GSS. Fund managers with less than $35 billion under management do not have the resources to promote their funds to investors, says Rios. “In fact, many of these smaller firms have shied away from marketing to focus on managing their clients’ assets,” he adds. Mellon has yet to explain the exact nature of the services it will supply.
Quasar Distributors, US Bancorp’s broker/dealer and distribution arm, has also developed a service to help smaller fund manager promote their funds cheaply. InCap Group, a Baltimore-based fund administrator, is also looking at the opportunity. The firm currently services funds with assets ranging from $5-600 million, says Jim Tennies, managing director. He says that although InCap’s existing clients are a good target for this service, the firm has yet to decide on how pricing will be set, or whether it should insist the services be bundled with the more traditional back-office services.
Last year, BISYS Fund Services joined forces with Financial Research Corporation (FRC) to create BISYS Distribution Solutions, a service that uses FRC’s research data. Now BISYS wants to agree deals with broker/dealer platforms to help its fund manager clients enlarge distribution. It is providing training and education to small fund companies on how to get on to these platforms, says director Bob Kennedy.