[ S U R V E Y | M U T U A L F U N D A D M I N I S T R A T I O N ]

U. S. Bancorp Fund Services counts 334 clients for its MFA business, accounting for a total of 2001 funds, 59 sub-funds and 3031 unit / share classes. While most of these have total assets under management of up to $ 5 billion, they include a number of firms in the $ 50-100 billion category. The bank can certainly be pleased with the results it has attained from its respondents this year. All category scores apart from fund reporting are above the survey average. Year on year, the bank’ s own results are up in all areas with the exception of Relationship Management and Client Service and Distribution Support – at similar levels to last year – and Reporting, down 0.23 points, but still at a very respectable 6.16. Clients speak positively of the service they receive, notably with regard to Relationship Management.“ Client services / relationship management is above the rest and compliance services are excellent,” notes one fund manager.“ Relationship management team is one of the most proactive and responsive teams I’ ve ever dealt with,” says another. A few grumbles are reported, however. One client calls for“ adequate staffing to meet Pacific standard time zone client needs.” Another would like to see greater customisation capabilities for fund reporting. U. S. Bancorp itself has placed significant emphasis on preparing for upcoming regulatory changes.“ We have established task forces of senior leaders and contributors from multiple business lines to guide the adoption of these changes,” it reports.“ Our task forces meet with vendors to help ensure we are providing a complete and effective offering addressing the new requirements.” A new web client portal, Pivot, allowing for enhanced data delivery and customised and ad hoc reporting has been introduced as has enhanced risk reporting. We would expect client reaction to these system developments to feed through into next year’ s results. Staffing levels have also risen. In the past 12 months, Staff numbers have increased by 7 % to 1,403 employees.“ Regulatory changes continue to drive administrators’ investment in talent, focus and technology initiatives,” says the bank. In addition, it notes,“ Total fund expenses will continue to decline due to the market appetite for passive, index and ETFs.

U. S. Bancorp scores versus market

2017 All Difference Relationship management and client service 6.61 6.28 0.33 Value delivered 6.31 6.05 0.26 Fund accounting and valuation 6.67 6.42 0.25 Transfer agency 6.62 6.54 0.08 Distribution support 6.39 6.14 0.25 Fund reporting 6.16 6.22-0.06 Compliance 6.59 6.56 0.03 Operations and custody 6.39 6.17 0.22

6.47 6.30 0.17

U. S. Bancorp client size( AuM) MFA overall client size( AuM)

Up to $ 100 million $ 100 million to $ 250 million $ 250 million to $ 1 billion $ 1 billion to $ 5 billion $ 5 billion to $ 10 billion $ 10 billion to $ 50 billion Over $ 50 billion N / A

U. S. Bancorp scores by type of fund( unweighted)

Up to $ 100 million

Up to $ 100 million $ 100 million to $ 250 million

$ 250 million to $ 1 billion $ 1 billion to $ 5 billion $ 5 billion to $ 10 billion $ 10 billion to $ 50 billion Over $ 50 billion N / A

Equity Non-equity All Relationship management and client service 6.84 6.47 6.61 Value delivered 6.20 5.96 6.31 Fund accounting and valuation 6.76 6.40 6.67 Transfer agency 6.70 6.52 6.62 Distribution support 6.01 6.35 6.39 Fund reporting 6.40 6.01 6.16 Compliance 6.76 6.38 6.59 Operations and custody 6.50 6.37 6.39

6.52 6.31 6.47

Summer 2017 globalcustodian. com 83