SEI’s 0.10% custody fee simplifies advisor pricing

SEI Private Trust Custody, based in Oaks, Pennsylvania, charges a custody fee that starts at 0.10% and typically eliminates most transaction fees for advisory firms. A spokesperson wrote in an email that the firm’s pricing is “intentionally simple and transparent” and that the fee information “fits on a single page,” but the one-page fee sheet was not available for download on the company website this week.

Across the broader SEI firm, the company manages, advises or administers $1.9 trillion in client assets and employs about 4,900 people. SEI’s custody business reports roughly $138 billion in assets under custody or administration from about 654 advisory firms.

The custody fee generally starts at 0.10% and can fall below that rate depending on the size of the RIA relationship, the mix of investments and the services used. SEI said it does not charge transaction fees beyond five specific ancillary charges for wire transfers, overdrafts, stop payments, account closings or terminations, and special assets.

SEI also noted it does not participate in payment-for-order-flow or charge markups on mutual fund transactions. The firm described individual custody rates as the result of private negotiations with each advisory practice.

Gabriel Garcia, head of RIA client strategy, described pricing discussions with advisors as “a little bit of an art and science.” He said the custody fee often drops below the stated starting rate once an advisor’s overall relationship and service mix are considered.

Advisors who use SEI point to technology, client service and access to managers as reasons for selecting the platform. Sean Ries, founder of Core Wealth Management, wrote that SEI allows his office to consolidate client accounts, offer fee-based and client-directed portals, and provide priority access to representatives. Ries also cited recent upgrades to a client portal that added daily performance data and the ability to link outside accounts.

SEI has been expanding its wealth-management operations through recruiting, acquisitions and partnerships. The company completed the first stage of a transaction involving Stratos Wealth Holdings that will total $544 million when finished. SEI has acquired advisor software firm Oranj, alternative-investment technology company Altigo, and tax-focused investment technology firm LifeYield. The firm also announced a collaboration with IBM to accelerate its use of agentic AI.

Ryan Hicke, SEI’s chief executive, called the Stratos transaction a way to deepen the company’s participation in the advice value chain and broaden the reach of its platforms. SEI said it will roll out tax planning tools this year drawn from the LifeYield acquisition, aimed at helping advisors consolidate accounts into a more unified managed household.

While SEI markets its custody pricing as simple, the firm reiterated that exact rates result from private negotiations and declined to post a separate downloadable one-page fee sheet. The reference to a one-page schedule, the spokesperson wrote, describes how the fee information fits on a single page rather than an available document to share.