What Are Assets Under Administration?

Assets under administration (AUA) is a measure of the total assets for which a financial institution provides administrative services. Assets under administration are beneficially owned and managed by clients who contract with a third-party administration provider. Services offered by asset administration providers include fund accounting, tax reporting, trade reporting, custody and more. Asset administration service providers include some of the world’s largest banks and financial institutions.

Understanding Assets Under Administration (AUA)

Assets under administration may also be reported with assets under custody. These offerings focus on the administrative and operational aspects of an investment fund’s needs. Administrative service providers perform all of an investment company’s administrative services or some portion thereof. Both institutional and retail funds require extensive support for administration.

Assets under administration are different from assets under management (AUM). AUM refers to assets that are actively managed by fund managers and portfolio managers with a fiduciary responsibility and authorization to make investment decisions on behalf of investors.

Assets Under Administration Providers

Asset administration service providers include some of the world’s largest banks and financial institutions. R&M Consultants and Global Investor survey the industry annually to report on the top companies and services.

Top services reported by category included the following:

1. Settlement and safekeeping

2. Client service and relationship management

3. Client reporting

4. Monthly accounting and valuation reports            

5. Service quality

6. Corporate actions

7. Customer facing technology

8. Tax reclaims         

9. Network

10. Proxy voting         

11. Ancillary

12. Securities lending program   

The five firms receiving the top scores for fund accounting and administration included the following:

1. RBC Investor & Treasury Services 

2. HSBC Securities Services

3. Societe Generale Securities Services

4. JP Morgan

5. Northern Trust

In 2016, Northern Trust, one of the largest U.S. asset administration providers, reported corporate and institutional assets under custody and administration of $7.987 trillion and wealth management assets under custody and administration of $554.3 billion. Total assets under custody and administration for the 2016 fiscal year were $8.541 trillion.

As of September 30, 2017, the firm is reporting total assets under custody and administration of $9.696 trillion. Total assets under custody and administration for corporate and institutional services were $9.063 trillion and wealth management assets under custody and administration were $633 billion.