Fast growing capital management firm streamlines reconciliation, processing. Capital managers Somerset Asset Management has outsourced its middle- and back-office administration to Market Street Advisors. Somerset says that Market Street's integrated, web-based functionality around reconciliation, performance composites, and restrictions processing supports its need to run its expanding business at scale.

"Market Street's highly scalable platform allows us to focus on growing our business while Market Street enhances our infrastructure," says Michael Ott, managing partner of Minneapolis-based Somerset.

Confidence

Another point in Market Street's favor: "Their security is top notch, which of course is vital to us from a [full-disclosure] standpoint," says Ott. "Coming out of sell-side research, that's very important to me and to the firm."

Ott came to Somerset in 2005 from Minneapolis-based Piper Jaffray, where he was head of equity research.

Somerset, which was founded in 2003, manages about $340 million across approximately 450 accounts for high-net-worth clients in 21 states. The firm's assets are up about 70% since its latest ADV filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), dated 31 March 2006.

For the moment Somerset -- which blends proprietary asset management and investment advisory with family-office services -- doesn't participate in any retail separately managed account programs. "We haven't been out there soliciting those kinds of relationships, primarily because we needed more confidence in our back office," says Ott. "Now that we have that though, we may start."

Edison, N.J.-based Market Street provides administrative services for asset managers, provides services that include tax-lot accounting, portfolio management, pre- and post-trade compliance, performance measurement and reporting, automatic reconciliation, customized workflow and electronic connections. Its competitors include CheckFree's Investment Services unit, Advent Software and Vestmark. -FWR

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