Scale is essential when managing multi-manager funds, especially if the goal is to use specialist managers. Most asset managers require high minimum account levels to run segregated accounts, often £20 million or more. Implementing a globally diversified multi manager program, using top specialists in each region and asset class therefore requires hundreds of millions of pounds in assets just to get started. Even then, the multi manager is likely to be accessing managers at high fee levels. Delivering competitive multi manager product requires the multi manager to have billions in assets. Good research also requires scale. There are thousands of investment managers around world, over 10,000 firms in the US alone. Researching a market this size takes considerable resources, resources that only a company with significant scale can economically afford. Russell Investments advises more than £1.4 trillion of institutional assets and manages over £92 billion in multi-manager funds. These assets give Russell the scale that is required. Russell’s scale allows us to deliver unrivalled access to the world’s investment management community. For many investment managers, Russell Investments and it's clients are the most important clients and prospects. This gives us immediate, on demand access to the people we need to talk to at investment managers, when we want to talk to them. Administration, trust and custody are considerably more complex in multi manager funds than in traditional funds. This complexity can add to costs and need to be carefully controlled. Russell Investments is a major customer of State Street Bank, one of the most experienced global custodians and fund administrators. State Street has a team of operational staff dedicated full time to supporting Russell’s multi manager business, and our scale enables us to control admin, trust and custody costs to a level lower than those incurred by many single manager funds.

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