Northern Trust recently announced it has been selected by the Delaware Public Employees' Retirement System as custodian for the system's nine retirement plans and four commingled pension funds, totaling $6.5 billion in assets. The agreement, effective July 1, includes domestic and global custody and related services, including cash management and securities lending.

"We are proud to be named global custodian for the Delaware system and its more than 60,000 retirees and active members," said Mark Doherty, vice president, Northern Trust. "This appointment underscores our commitment to public employee funds and the value of our service offering, including a single, worldwide technology and operations platform and the full range of online capabilities for daily valuation, pricing, accounting and reporting available through our Web portal, Northern Trust Passport."

As of March 31, 2006, Northern Trust had assets under custody of $3.1 trillion and assets under investment management of $653 billion.

The Delaware Public Employees' Retirement System consists of nine retirement plans and four commingled pension funds, including the State Employees' Plan, Delaware Volunteer Firemen's Plan, State Police and Judiciary plans. The system served more than 61,908 members, including 20,363 retirees and beneficiaries, as of June 30, 2005.

Dragon Capital Licenses DSTi Investment Management Technology

With a continuing focus on finding the most attractive investment opportunities in Vietnam's growing commercial sector and zealous attention to shareholder value, Dragon Capital in Vietnam recently signed agreements to implement DSTi's Investment Management Solution, in a effort to further secure its leadership position.

Dragon Capital currently manages the largest of the dedicated offshore listed Vietnam funds. The firm's innovative approach to fund management in Vietnam has earned it the support of major financial institutions throughout the world.

"The Vietnam market is growing at a very rapid pace," said Mike Temple, director of Dragon Capital. "As a leading fund management company in Vietnam, Dragon Capital needs an excellent information technology platform to support our future growth. We automatically thought of DSTi as they not only have the largest presence of any asset management vendor in Asia, but also have been active in the Vietnam market since 2000. The new DSTi Investment Management Solution will allow Dragon Capital to become more productive, efficient and most importantly provide a better service to our clients."

E*Trade Financial to Buy Retirement Advisors of America

E*TRADE FINANCIAL Corporation recently announced its intent to acquire Retirement Advisors of America (RAA), a Dallas-based registered investment adviser managing over $1 billion in assets.

The acquisition strengthens E*TRADE FINANCIAL's regional adviser strategy, which delivers localized wealth management services and advice to retail and Corporate Services clients with a minimum of $250,000 in assets. RAA joins the E*TRADE Wealth Management network of Howard Capital Management (Los Angeles and New York), Kobren Insight Management (Boston) and the investment adviser group of Harrisdirect LLC, totaling nearly $3 billion in assets under management.

With nearly 1,300 high-value client relationships, the RAA acquisition is expected to provide a recurring revenue stream with a scalable business platform that can manage additional client assets with minimal incremental expense. E*TRADE FINANCIAL expects the transaction to be slightly accretive in 2006, with approximately $9.3 million in annualized revenues in FY 2006.

"An increasing number of E*TRADE FINANCIAL customers are seeking support in making more complex financial decisions," said Jon Foster, head of wealth management, E*TRADE FINANCIAL. "With the acquisition of RAA, E*TRADE FINANCIAL enhances its advisory service for customers in Texas—a state with a high concentration of our retail and Corporate Services customers."

Satuit Technologies Reports Significant CRM Growth

Satuit Technologies, Inc., one of the fastest-growing providers of customer relationship management (CRM) solutions for investment professionals, recently announced that it is experiencing significant growth in every aspect of its business.

In 2005, Satuit Technologies grew its recurring revenue base by 124 percent and the company is on target to double its recurring revenues in 2006. In order to support its growing client base, Satuit opened offices in the U.K. and expanded its U.S. office space during the first quarter of 2006.

Satuit's account base grew by 82 percent in 2005 and is on target for another 50 percent in 2006 as the number of users grew by 68 percent, including new users added by existing accounts. The company's client base includes Acadian Asset Management, Century Capital Management, LaSalle Investment Management, Peconic Partners and Proctor Investment Managers.

"The significant growth that Satuit has, and continues to experience, is a direct reflection of the maturity on the CRM market space," said Karen Maguire, chief executive officer of Satuit Technologies. "Investment Professionals are no longer willing to suffer through the use of generic CRM solutions that do not match their specific market needs. Satuit's unique CRM product built for investment professionals, by investment professionals, has put us in the right place, at the right time, with the right product."

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