SEI will act as the distribution and operational engine behind the Exchange platform, which the firm said is designed to help investment managers enter the growing ETF market quickly "without the large capital expenditure typically associated with building an institutional-quality infrastructure." 

“Operational outsourcing has already become the norm in the ETF space but it’s particularly fitting in this case given the complexity and the potential growth of this model,” said John Alshefski, senior vice president of SEI’s investment manager services division.

SEI will provide Exchange with a “complete outsourcing solution,” including back-office services such as fund administration, fund accounting, and investor servicing, in addition to an index receipt agency and custody solutions, it said.

New York’s Yorkville ETF Advisors, the asset management firm, will be the first to launch an ETF on Exchange's platform - with the Yorkville High Income MLP. SEI said it will provide operational outsourcing for Yorkville, as well as subsequent managers who launch on Exchange's platform.