Custodian transitions

Move your book to SEI, repapered in days

Advisor transitions and asset transfers onto SEI, without the paperwork war room.

Bringing a book of business to SEI means new-account applications, transfer of assets forms and firm paperwork for every household. Changing firms while staying at SEI still means an Advisor Change form and the full firm paperwork. That work is what turns a transition into a months-long project. FastTrackr collects the data once and prepares the forms so the move runs in days.

How a move to SEI works

Repapering is the first step, and it sets off everything else. Once the paperwork is right, the rest of the move follows.

Collect the data

FastTrackr collects the household and account data from your exports, statements and client documents.

Create the paperwork

FastTrackr fills the SEI account forms, the transfer of assets forms and your firm paperwork, and puts it all into DocuSign.

Send for signature

Everything goes out to clients for signature.

SEI opens the accounts

SEI validates the paperwork, opens the accounts and initiates the ACAT through DTCC.

Everything settles

Once the delivering firm or custodian accepts the transfer, the assets move and everything settles.

Changing firms but staying at SEI?

You still have to repaper. When you move to a new firm and keep SEI as custodian, there is no ACAT. Steps 1 to 3 are the same, and step 4 becomes an advisor change on the accounts inside SEI, which happens promptly. The SEI form for this is the Advisor Change form. Your new firm paperwork is still the full set, and FastTrackr prepares both.

Where SEI repapering goes not-in-good-order

A not-in-good-order (NIGO) submission is one the receiving or delivering firm rejects for missing or mismatched information. Each rejection sends the paperwork back and restarts the clock. These are the recurring causes on a book move.

Missing or mismatched signatures

Every required account owner has to sign, and the signatures have to match what the delivering firm holds. Joint and trust accounts multiply the places a signature can be missed.

Registration does not match

The account title and registration on the new SEI paperwork must match the delivering firm’s records exactly. A middle initial, a trust date, or an ownership-type difference is a common rejection.

Incomplete account or transfer details

A wrong or truncated account number, a missing delivering-firm identifier, or an omitted field on the transfer form stalls validation.

Non-transferable or restricted assets

Proprietary funds, limited partnerships, and certain restricted positions may not move in-kind and need to be handled separately, which delays the rest of the transfer if not flagged up front.

How FastTrackr repapers a book onto SEI

FastTrackr is the purpose-built platform for advisor transitions. It collects household data once, fills the paperwork, checks it against custodian and firm rules before submission to reduce NIGOs, and tracks every account to done.

Collect once

AI pulls client and account data from your existing documents, statements and exports, so no household is retyped from scratch.

Map & pre-fill

The right SEI new-account, transfer of assets and firm forms are identified and pre-filled, then checked against the fields that drive NIGO rejections.

Track to done

Every household, form and transfer status sits in one shared view, in place of the spreadsheet-and-email war room, until the last account lands.

What FastTrackr handles on a SEI move

Output the way you work. Push to DocuSign in one click, download the filled PDFs, export Excel in the counterparty’s own template, or send straight to the custodian by API where it’s supported. No retyping either way.
SEI-specific nuances, handled. Carbon-copy requirements, SMS verification and second-signature outreach trip up submissions. FastTrackr builds them into every package it prepares.
The transfer forms, not just the account opening. FastTrackr fills the ACAT / transfer of assets forms too, so the assets start moving with the account paperwork instead of being chased separately.
Your firm paperwork, not just the custodian forms. Beyond the SEI account and transfer forms, FastTrackr also prepares your new firm paperwork (advisory agreement, fee schedule and disclosures), so every household is repapered on both the custodian and the firm side.
Nothing slips. Every household is tracked to done, with a pending view that shows only what is still missing.

FastTrackr and SEI: how the handoff works

FastTrackr prepares everything a SEI move needs: the household data, collected once, and the new-account, transfer of assets and firm forms, filled and checked before they go out for signature. Talk to us about how the handoff would work for your book.

See the full transition platform Read more on Advisor Transitions & Repapering

Months to days

timelines compress on the move to SEI

Fewer NIGOs

forms checked before they reach the custodian

Retained AUM

less attrition while the book is in transit

The technical detail: how assets move to SEI

Assets move to SEI over the ACATS rail: the Automated Customer Account Transfer Service operated by DTCC, which automates and standardizes asset transfers between firms. Once the paperwork is signed, every transfer follows the same three steps.

Initiate

As the receiving custodian, SEI submits a transfer-initiation request to NSCC/ACATS with the customer detail the delivering firm needs to identify the account.

Validate

The delivering firm reviews the request and either rejects it or returns the detailed account asset data. This is the step where a mismatch sends the transfer back as NIGO.

Settle

Once validated, the assets are delivered and settle through DTCC infrastructure. A standard ACATS transfer runs about six business days end to end (SEC), with accelerated processing as few as four (DTCC).

Forms on a SEI move

SEI new-account application, for each account and account type
Beneficiary forms
Servicing forms: options, margin, EFT and distributions
ACAT transfer of assets form
Advisor Change form, when you change firms and keep SEI as custodian
Firm paperwork: advisory agreement, fee schedule, Form CRS and privacy policy

Sources: the SEC, which puts a standard ACATS transfer at about six business days (three for the delivering firm to validate or reject), and DTCC, the operator of ACATS, which offers accelerated processing in as few as four business days. SEI’s own processing windows and required forms vary by account type and are confirmed with SEI during onboarding.

Frequently Asked Questions

FastTrackr collects the data, creates the paperwork and puts it into DocuSign, and everything goes out for signature. SEI then validates the paperwork, opens the accounts and initiates the ACAT through DTCC. Once the delivering firm or custodian accepts, everything settles. Repapering is the first step, and it sets off everything else.

Yes. When you move to a new firm and keep SEI as custodian, there is no ACAT. The step becomes an advisor change on the accounts inside SEI, which happens promptly. The SEI form for this is the Advisor Change form, and your new firm paperwork is still the full set. FastTrackr prepares both.

The ACATS transfer itself runs about six business days end to end (SEC), or as few as four with DTCC accelerated processing, once a request is validated. The full advisor transition, collecting data and preparing and signing the paperwork for every household, is what takes 90 days and sometimes longer. FastTrackr compresses that preparation work.

ACATS (Automated Customer Account Transfer Service) is the DTCC-operated system that automates and standardizes the transfer of customer assets between firms. It is the rail assets travel on when a book moves to SEI.

The most common causes are missing or mismatched signatures, a registration or title that does not match the delivering firm’s records, incomplete account or transfer details, and assets that cannot transfer in-kind. FastTrackr checks these fields before submission.