Investment outsourcer wants to make a name for itself in bank-trust space. This week SEI is hosting a symposium in Chicago for wealth-management heads from more than 20 Midwestern banks and trust companies to keep bank-based wealth professionals up to date on buzz concepts like behavioral finance, goals-based investing, portable alpha, and managed volatility.

"The global business and investment landscape have changed dramatically in recent years and this will be an opportunity to bring executives together to discuss current trends in asset management," says David Campbell, senior v.p. for SEI's private-banking and trust business.

Making nice

The Chicago symposium is the first in a series of regional asset management events planned for this year.

Brian Lucareli, managing director for wealth management at Racine, Wisc.-based Johnson Bank, says he's looking forward to the Chicago event, primarily for "best-practice discussions" with his peers -- especially around investment-product offerings.

"Increasingly, the industry and investors are open to embracing new strategies that try to match strong performance with the appropriate level of risk management," says Al Chiaradonna, SEI's head of private-banking strategy "There are a number of options available to investors and we want to provide an opportunity to further educate our clients on these emerging strategies."

In addition to hosting the wealth-management events, SEI plans to add six more staffers to its private-banking team to help bank-based wealth managers sort through "the growing complexities of asset management solutions," according to a press release.

Oaks, Pa.-based SEI administered $382.4 billion in mutual fund and pooled assets and managed $190.0 billion in assets on 31 March 2007. -FWR

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