การประชุมแถลงผลประกอบการไตรมาส 3 ปี 2026 ของ SEI: รายได้เพิ่มขึ้น 14% ขณะที่ยอดขายทำสถิติสูงสุดเป็นประวัติการณ์

ประเด็นสำคัญ

• SEI รายงานการเติบโตของรายได้ในไตรมาสที่ 3 ปี 2026 ที่ 14% การเติบโตของกำไรจากการดำเนินงานปรับปรุงแล้วที่ 25% และการเติบโตของ EPS ปรับปรุงแล้วที่ 24% เมื่อเทียบรายปี
• ยอดขายสุทธิใหม่ (Net sales events) แตะระดับ 47 ล้านดอลลาร์ ซึ่งเป็นผลประกอบการรายไตรมาสที่สูงที่สุดเป็นอันดับสองในประวัติศาสตร์ของบริษัท ขณะที่ยอดขายสุทธิใหม่สะสมนับตั้งแต่ต้นปี (YTD) มีจำนวนรวม 157 ล้านดอลลาร์ ซึ่งสูงกว่าสถิติรวมทั้งปีเดิมของ SEI แล้ว
• อัตรากำไรจากการดำเนินงานปรับปรุงแล้วขยายตัว 260 basis points เมื่อเทียบรายปี การปรับปรุงค่าตอบแทนจูงใจจำนวน 6 ล้านดอลลาร์ส่งผลให้อัตรากำไรรายไตรมาสลดลงประมาณ 100 basis points
• กลุ่มผู้จัดการการลงทุน (Investment Managers) เป็นผู้นำการเติบโตแบบออร์แกนิก โดยทั้งรายได้และกำไรจากการดำเนินงานเพิ่มขึ้น 14% ขณะที่ผู้จัดการสินทรัพย์ทางเลือกสร้างยอดขายสุทธิใหม่เกือบ 90% ของยอดขายสุทธิใหม่รายไตรมาสของกลุ่มธุรกิจนี้
• รายได้จากธุรกิจการธนาคารส่วนบุคคล (Private Banking) เพิ่มขึ้น 11% และกำไรจากการดำเนินงานเพิ่มขึ้น 38% เมื่อเทียบรายปี โดยได้รับปัจจัยหนุนจากบริการทางวิชาชีพ การขยายแพลตฟอร์ม และการบริหารจัดการสินทรัพย์ระหว่างประเทศ
• ผู้บริหารระบุว่าโอกาสทางธุรกิจที่รอการปิดขาย (pipelines) ยังคงแข็งแกร่งอย่างต่อเนื่องไปจนถึงไตรมาส 4 ปี 2026 และช่วงต้นปี 2027 พร้อมย้ำว่าช่วงเวลาในการเปลี่ยนโอกาสทางธุรกิจเป็นสัญญาจริงของกลุ่มสถาบัน (Institutional conversions) ยังคงคาดเดาได้ยาก

ข้อมูลทางการเงินสำคัญ

กำไรสุทธิตามหลักการบัญชีทั่วไป (GAAP) ลดลง 32.5 ล้านดอลลาร์ในส่วนของค่าใช้จ่ายอื่น ๆ หลังจาก SEI และ Stratos ตัดสินใจร่วมกันที่จะยกเลิกแผนการเข้าซื้อกิจการ NSC ซึ่งเป็น RIA เม็กซิโกของ Stratos

ผลการดำเนินงานทางธุรกิจและการปฏิบัติงาน

ผู้จัดการการลงทุน (Investment Managers)

กลุ่มผู้จัดการการลงทุน (Investment Managers) รายงานการเติบโต 14% เมื่อเทียบรายปี ทั้งในส่วนของรายได้และกำไรจากการดำเนินงาน หากไม่รวมการตั้งสำรองค่าตอบแทนที่สูงขึ้น กำไรจากการดำเนินงานจะเติบโตขึ้น 17%

กลุ่มธุรกิจนี้สร้างยอดขายสุทธิใหม่ได้ 32 ล้านดอลลาร์ โดยประมาณหนึ่งในสามมาจากลูกค้ารายใหม่ ส่วนที่เหลือมาจากการขยายสัญญาของลูกค้ารายเดิม อุปสงค์ยังคงกระจุกตัวในกลุ่มผู้จัดการสินทรัพย์ทางเลือกรายใหญ่ ซึ่งรวมถึงผู้ใช้บริการเอาท์ซอร์สเป็นครั้งแรก บริษัทที่ใช้กลยุทธ์การลงทุนแบบหลากหลาย (multi-strategy) สินเชื่อภาคเอกชน (private credit) ตลาดรอง (secondaries) และผลิตภัณฑ์เพื่อการเกษียณอายุ

SEI เปิดตัวธุรกิจตัวแทนรับฝากถอนและโอนย้ายหน่วยลงทุนสำหรับลูกค้ารายย่อย (retail transfer agency) ในระหว่างไตรมาส และได้เริ่มให้บริการแก่ลูกค้ารายอื่น ๆ เพิ่มเติมในเวลาต่อมา ผู้บริหารระบุว่าโครงการริเริ่มร่วมระหว่างตัวแทนรับฝากถอนโอนย้ายหน่วยลงทุนและการบริหารจัดการกองทุน คาดว่าจะสร้างอัตราการทำรายได้ (revenue run rate) เกิน 10 ล้านดอลลาร์ภายในสิ้นปี 2027

ธุรกิจการธนาคารส่วนบุคคล (Private Banking)

รายได้จากธุรกิจการธนาคารส่วนบุคคล (Private Banking) เพิ่มขึ้น 11% และกำไรจากการดำเนินงานเพิ่มขึ้น 38% เมื่อเทียบรายปี การเติบโตนี้สะท้อนถึงบริการทางวิชาชีพ การขยายแพลตฟอร์ม และการบริหารจัดการสินทรัพย์ระหว่างประเทศ

ธุรกิจนี้บันทึกยอดขายสุทธิใหม่ 13 ล้านดอลลาร์ ซึ่งรวมถึงอุปสงค์สำหรับการปรับเปลี่ยนองค์กร (enterprise transformation) บริการทางวิชาชีพ และศักยภาพของ Data Cloud โดยเกือบ 3 ล้านดอลลาร์มาจากยอดขายการบริหารจัดการสินทรัพย์ให้แก่ตัวกลางในสหราชอาณาจักร

ผู้บริหารกล่าวว่า แนวทางการขายได้ขยายไปไกลกว่าการทดแทนแพลตฟอร์มหลัก แต่มุ่งสู่โครงการปรับเปลี่ยนที่ครอบคลุมกว้างขึ้น ซึ่งเกี่ยวเนื่องกับรูปแบบการดำเนินงาน ข้อมูล และการประยุกต์ใช้ AI นอกเหนือจากนี้ บริษัทเห็นโอกาสในการนำเสนอขายศักยภาพด้านการลงทุนไปยังความสัมพันธ์กับธนาคารที่มีอยู่ในปัจจุบัน

กลุ่มที่ปรึกษา (Advisers) และ Stratos

Stratos สร้างรายได้ 23 ล้านดอลลาร์ และกำไรจากการดำเนินงาน 4 ล้านดอลลาร์ ซึ่งรวมถึงค่าตัดจำหน่าย 7 ล้านดอลลาร์ Stratos สร้าง EBITDA ได้ 11.5 ล้านดอลลาร์ เพิ่มขึ้น 17% เมื่อเทียบกับไตรมาสก่อนหน้า

หากไม่รวม Stratos รายได้ของกลุ่มที่ปรึกษา (Advisers) เพิ่มขึ้น 10% และกำไรจากการดำเนินงานเพิ่มขึ้น 7% เมื่อเทียบรายปี มูลค่าตลาดที่สูงขึ้นและการเริ่มให้บริการแก่ลูกค้าที่ได้รับมาตั้งแต่ปีก่อนหน้าช่วยสนับสนุนผลประกอบการ

สินทรัพย์ ETF ของ SEI แตะระดับมากกว่า 9 พันล้านดอลลาร์ เมื่อเทียบกับประมาณ 4 พันล้านดอลลาร์ในปีก่อนหน้า ผู้บริหารระบุว่าไลน์ผลิตภัณฑ์ ETF กำลังขยายครอบคลุมกลยุทธ์แบบแอคทีฟ (active) กองทุนรวมที่ลงทุนในกองทุนอื่น (fund-of-funds) ตราสารหนี้ และตราสารทุน ทั้งภายในและภายนอกแพลตฟอร์มของ SEI

กลุ่มสถาบัน (Institutional) และ LSV

รายได้ของกลุ่มสถาบัน (Institutional) ลดลง 2% เมื่อเทียบรายปี แต่เพิ่มขึ้น 1% จากไตรมาส 2 SEI กำลังมุ่งเน้นความพยายามด้านการขยายโอกาสทางธุรกิจไปที่กองทุนมั่งคั่งเพื่อการศึกษา/สถาบัน (endowments) มูลนิธิ และองค์กรด้านการดูแลสุขภาพ

สินทรัพย์ภายใต้การบริหาร (AUM) ของ LSV ลดลง 1% ผลตอบแทนการลงทุนที่ดีกว่าเกณฑ์มาตรฐานถูกชดเชยด้วยเงินทุนไหลออกสุทธิ 5 พันล้านดอลลาร์ โดยค่าธรรมเนียมผลประกอบการในส่วนที่เป็นของ SEI มีจำนวนรวม 4.5 ล้านดอลลาร์

มุมมองของผู้บริหาร

• ผู้บริหารคาดว่าการซื้อหุ้นคืนในไตรมาส 4 ปี 2026 จะใกล้เคียงกับจำนวน 215 ล้านดอลลาร์ที่ดำเนินการเสร็จสิ้นในไตรมาส 3 วงเงินอนุมัติเพิ่มเติมอีก 800 ล้านดอลลาร์ช่วยให้บริษัทมีความสามารถในการดำเนินกิจกรรมซื้อหุ้นคืนได้อย่างต่อเนื่องจนถึงปี 2027
• การปรับปรุงค่าตอบแทนจูงใจจำนวน 6 ล้านดอลลาร์ถูกระบุว่าเป็นรายการปรับปรุงยอดจริง (true-up) ของไตรมาส 3 ผู้บริหารกล่าวว่าอีก 25% หรือประมาณ 1.5 ล้านดอลลาร์ จะได้รับการรับรู้ในไตรมาส 4
• SEI คาดว่ารายได้รวมจากธุรกิจตัวแทนรับฝากถอนโอนย้ายหน่วยลงทุนและการบริหารจัดการกองทุนจะเกินอัตราการทำรายได้ 10 ล้านดอลลาร์ภายในสิ้นปี 2027 โดยผู้บริหารระบุว่าเป้าหมายนี้อาจถือว่าเป็นตัวเลขประเมินแบบอนุรักษนิยม
• ผู้บริหารกล่าวว่าธุรกิจ ETF มีศักยภาพที่จะเติบโตเพิ่มขึ้นเป็นสองเท่าอีกครั้งในปี 2027 พร้อมกับชี้แจงว่านี่เป็นเป้าหมายความทะเยอทะยานมากกว่าการคาดการณ์อย่างเป็นทางการ
• เงินทุนไหลออกสุทธิของ LSV คาดว่าจะปรับตัวดีขึ้นในไตรมาสถัดไป
• โอกาสทางธุรกิจที่รอการปิดขายถูกอธิบายว่ายังคงแข็งแกร่งครอบคลุมกลุ่มผู้จัดการการลงทุน, ธุรกิจการธนาคารส่วนบุคคล, กลุ่มที่ปรึกษา และกลุ่มสถาบัน โดยครอบคลุมต่อเนื่องไปจนถึงช่วงต้นปี 2027

ความเสี่ยงและประเด็นที่ต้องจับตา

• กำไรจากการลงทุนในกิจการที่มีส่วนได้เสียผันแปร (variable interest entities) อาจมีความผันผวน โดยกำไรเหล่านี้ลดลง 8 ล้านดอลลาร์เมื่อเทียบกับไตรมาสก่อนหน้าในไตรมาส 3
• การเปลี่ยนโอกาสทางธุรกิจเป็นสัญญาจริงของกลุ่มสถาบันยังคงคาดเดาช่วงเวลาได้ยาก ซึ่งข้อจำกัดนี้ทำให้ยากต่อการมองเห็นว่ากิจกรรมการขายจะส่งผลต่อรายได้ที่รายงานเมื่อใด
• อุปสงค์ที่แข็งแกร่งของ IMS ส่งผลให้ความต้องการด้านกำลังคนและการดำเนินการติดตั้งระบบเพิ่มสูงขึ้น ผู้บริหารระบุว่า SEI กำลังเร่งสรรหาบุคลากรอย่างรวดเร็ว พร้อมกับใช้ระบบอัตโนมัติมาช่วยรองรับกำลังความสามารถ
• เงินทุนไหลเข้าจากนักลงทุนรายย่อยไปยังสินเชื่อภาคเอกชน (private credit) ชะลอตัวลง แม้ว่าผู้บริหารจะกล่าวว่าการเปิดตัวผลิตภัณฑ์หลัก (flagship) ยังคงเป็นไปตามกำหนดเวลา และยังไม่เห็นรอยร้าวในโอกาสทางธุรกิจที่รอการปิดขาย
• LSV บันทึกเงินทุนไหลออกสุทธิ 5 พันล้านดอลลาร์ในระหว่างไตรมาส
• อัตรากำไรของกลุ่มที่ปรึกษา (Advisers) ลดลงประมาณ 50 basis points เมื่อเทียบกับไตรมาสก่อนหน้า โดยหลักๆ เป็นผลมาจากการลงทุนด้านเทคโนโลยีเพื่อสนับสนุนประสบการณ์ของที่ปรึกษา Stratos

ประเด็นสำคัญจากการตอบคำถามของนักวิเคราะห์

• การจัดจำหน่าย ETF: SEI กำลังเสนอขาย ETF ทั้งบนและนอกแพลตฟอร์มของตน ขณะที่ผู้ให้บริการพอร์ตการลงทุนต้นแบบ (model providers) รายอื่นได้เริ่มนำผลิตภัณฑ์ของ SEI ไปรวมไว้แล้ว ผู้บริหารมองว่า ETF เป็นเครื่องยนต์ขับเคลื่อนการเติบโต แต่ไม่ได้ให้เป้าหมายสินทรัพย์ที่แน่นอน
• สินทรัพย์ทางเลือก: IMS กำลังเห็นอุปสงค์จากผู้ใช้บริการเอาท์ซอร์สเป็นครั้งแรก สินเชื่อภาคเอกชน ตลาดรอง กองทุนรวมเพื่อการลงทุนร่วม (collective investment trusts) และกองทุนประเภท interval funds ทั้งนี้ บริษัทตั้งใจจะแสวงหาการรับบริหารสินทรัพย์ทางเลือกสำหรับนักลงทุนรายย่อยที่มีขนาดใหญ่ขึ้นตามลำดับ หลังจากสร้างกรณีศึกษาอ้างอิงในช่วงเริ่มต้นได้แล้ว
• ความเร็วในการดำเนินการติดตั้งระบบ: ผู้บริหารระบุว่าการเริ่มให้บริการแก่ลูกค้าได้เร็วขึ้นเป็นผลมาจาก การลงทุนในระบบอัตโนมัติและ AI รวมทั้งการเข้าถึงแผนการดำเนินงานของลูกค้าได้เร็วยิ่งขึ้นผ่านความสัมพันธ์เชิงกลยุทธ์ที่กว้างขวางยิ่งขึ้น
• รายได้ประจำ: SEI ระบุว่าการปรับเปลี่ยนองค์กรและบริการทางวิชาชีพสามารถสร้างโอกาสรายได้ประจำได้ เนื่องจากลูกค้าต้องการการสนับสนุนเกี่ยวกับการเปลี่ยนแปลงด้านกฎระเบียบ เทคโนโลยี ข้อมูล และ AI อยู่ตลอดเวลา
• สินเชื่อภาคเอกชน: ผู้บริหารยอมรับว่าเงินทุนไหลเข้าจากนักลงทุนรายย่อยลดลง แต่กล่าวว่าเงินทุนจากภาคธุรกิจประกันภัยยังคงหลั่งไหลเข้าสู่สินเชื่อภาคเอกชนอย่างต่อเนื่อง และ SEI ยังไม่เห็นสัญญาณการปรับตัวแย่ลงในโอกาสทางธุรกิจที่รอการปิดขาย
• ปัจจัยเร่งโอกาสทางธุรกิจ: ผู้บริหารอ้างถึงโอกาสทางธุรกิจที่รอการปิดขายระดับสถิติสูงสุดในส่วนของธุรกิจบริหารความมั่งคั่งและกลุ่มสถาบัน แรงขับเคลื่อนของ Stratos แผนการเปิดตัวกองทุน Carlyle ในไตรมาส 4 และการเปลี่ยนผ่านแพลตฟอร์มของอุตสาหกรรมซึ่งครอบคลุมสินทรัพย์มูลค่าสูงสุดถึง 5 หมื่นล้านดอลลาร์ที่กำลังมองหาผู้ให้บริการรายใหม่

บันทึกการแถลงผลประกอบการฉบับเต็ม

บทถอดเสียงฉบับเต็มของการประชุมทางโทรศัพท์ผลประกอบการ

คำชี้แจงจากฝ่ายบริหาร

Operator

Greetings. Welcome to SEI Third Quarter 2026 Earnings Call. [Operator Instructions] A question-and-answer session will follow the formal presentation. [Operator Instructions] Please note, this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the conference over to Brad Burke, Head of Investor Relations and Treasurer. Thank you, sir. You may begin.

Bradley Burke

Thank you, and welcome, everyone, to SEI's Third Quarter 2026 Earnings Call. We appreciate you joining us today. On the call, we have Ryan Hicke, SEI's Chief Executive Officer; Sean Denham, our Chief Financial and Chief Operating Officer; and members of our executive management team, including Kristie Edling-Day, Michael Lane, Phil McCabe, Mike Peterson, Sneha Shah, Sanjay Sharma and Amy Sliwinski.

Before we begin, I'd like to point out that our earnings press release and the presentation accompanying today's call can be found under the Investor Relations section of our website at seic.com. This call is being webcast live, and a replay will be available on the Events and Webcast page of our website.

With that, I'll now turn the call over to Ryan. Ryan?

Ryan Hicke

Thank you, Brad. Good afternoon, everyone. The results SEI delivered in the third quarter reinforced the conversations we have been having with this audience for the last couple of years, and they confirm why we had the conviction in the strategy we discussed at the Investor Day last year. The results provide repeatable evidence that the strategic changes we have made are showing up across the company. It also demonstrates that the nature of our client relationships have evolved. SEI is now engaging with clients at the top of the organization on more strategic issues and bringing a broader set of capabilities to the relationship.

In the third quarter, SEI reported revenue growth of 14%, adjusted operating profit growth of 25% and adjusted EPS growth of 24% compared to the prior year. And for some longer historical context, the adjusted EPS achieved in the third quarter is nearly 50% above where the company stood 2 years ago. Our growth continues to broaden across the company, with contributions from multiple businesses in both financial performance and sales activity.

And speaking of sales events, third quarter net events totaled $47 million, bringing our year-to-date total to $157 million. With a full quarter still remaining in the year, we have already exceeded the highest level of full year sales results in the history of the company. We're excited about the results and the trajectory of the business. Sean will walk through the results in more detail, but I want to spend a couple of minutes talking about what we're seeing in each of the businesses at a macro level.

In IMS, demand remains strong, especially among large alternative asset managers. We continue to be the partner of choice for those looking for global scale, asset class breadth and modern technology. What has become clear to us over the last 18 months, is that SEI's reputation is one of our strongest competitive advantages. When firms evaluate outsourcing partners, they speak with our existing clients. They ask who can execute? Who can handle complexity? Who can support future growth? But they also ask who has a client-centric culture and truly understands the nature of partnership? Those conversations are opening new doors with some of the largest first-time outsourcers in the industry.

We are also encouraged by the strong demand for solutions in retail offer. We had a successful launch with our retail transfer agency and our Alton CIT capability is showing momentum, with multiple clients launched in Q3 and more expected to fund shortly. Our Private Banking business delivered another strong quarter, and we expect sales activity to remain solid. Professional services is a key driver of this acceleration.

When I step back and look at why we have seen sales activity accelerate and why our pipelines are strong, professional services looks less like a separate offering in banking and more like the missing piece that is now complementing the SEI offering. And this is a solution set that we believe has resonance across all of our client bases in the enterprise.

What does that mean? Just a few years ago, our discussions with clients were driven entirely by the platform offering. Here's the platform. Do you want to buy it? And when you do that, you box yourself in as a vendor. Those client conversations have evolved into discussions around transformation, how to simplify technology environments, modernize operating models, increase client acquisition, improve the use of data, harness AI and positioned for future growth.

Clients are looking for a partner that can help them define the future state of their business. As a result, the largest opportunities in our pipeline are no longer just platform replacements. They are comprehensive enterprise transformation initiatives. And on AI, specifically, I understand there's been a lot of concern in the market about how AI might impact SEI. The only effect we are seeing is that AI has accelerated client interest in partnering with SEI. It is driving more demand, not less, and we can point to multiple specific examples in our pipeline where this is the case.

Turning to Asset Management business. The team has moved beyond reimagining and is building momentum in the execution phase. The progress we have seen reflects substantial effort around client segmentation, distribution, adviser engagement, pricing, product development and new client acquisition. We're seeing stronger engagement with RIAs, improving activity across the institutional pipeline and continued adoption of our ETF strategies, which now total more than $9 billion in AUM, up from only $4 billion just last year.

We continue to invest in distribution, products, partnerships and talent. That includes the recent addition of Kristie Edling-Day as our new Chief Information Officer, bringing deep financial services and technology experience, to help advance our technology and product strategy. We believe the business is moving in the right direction, and we expect that direction to continue improving.

Also, our conviction and independent financial advice and the Stratos partnership increases every day. We got to see that firsthand at our recent adviser conference in Nashville, where more than 500 advisers, including Stratos advisers and their leadership team came together with real enthusiasm about what we can all accomplish together. After a year of working closely with Jeff and the Stratos team, we're even more confident that we chose the right partner to build alongside in the United States. The combination is already creating new opportunities across both Stratos and SEI, and we believe there is substantially more we can accomplish together.

Before concluding, I want to touch on profitability. Adjusted operating margins in the third quarter remained near record levels. And this was not driven by some shortsighted cost-cutting initiative. It is the result of building a more scalable business and paring thoughtful investment with strong revenue growth. We believe that combination creates significant value for shareholders. As I often say on these calls, an enormous thank you goes to our global workforce for their passion and their delivery. But also to our clients, for their continued trust and partnership.

In conclusion, the results this quarter are great. But in the words of Jelly Roll, the windshield is bigger than the rearview mirror for a reason, because what's in front of you is so much more important than what's behind you. I have a lot of confidence in what underpins our results, strong pipelines, enthusiastic clients and a business that is becoming more capable and efficient with each passing day. Some people tell us, SEI is back. Well, to that, we say thank you. But we believe SEI hasn't even remotely defined who we will be yet.

With that, I will turn the call over to Sean.

Sean Denham

Thank you, Ryan. Turning to Slide 4. SEI delivered another outstanding quarter. Ryan already covered the highlights, so I'll focus on just a few items that affected results. The third quarter included one notable item within operating expenses. Given the strength of our results year-to-date and our outlook for the remainder of the year, we increased our incentive compensation accrual during the quarter. This adjustment reduced operating profit by $6 million and adjusted operating margins by roughly 100 basis points. While it impacted reported profitability in the quarter, it is ultimately a reflection of the strong performance being delivered across the business.

Sustaining that performance requires the best people and a commitment to rewarding them. Adjusted EPS declined by $0.02 compared to the second quarter, driven by 2 items. First, net gains on investments in variable interest entities declined by $8 million from the second quarter. These investment gains can be volatile, and Q3 reflects what we believe is a more normalized level of contribution.

The second item is the incentive compensation adjustment I just discussed. Excluding that adjustment, adjusted operating profit would have increased approximately 4% and adjusted operating margins would have expanded by roughly 20 basis points compared to Q2. The quarter also benefited from a slightly lower effective tax rate than normal, driven by elevated employee stock option exercises after SEI shares reached a record high. In addition, GAAP net income was reduced by $32.5 million recorded in other expenses, related to our mutual agreement with Stratos to terminate the planned acquisition of NSC, its Mexican RIA.

Please turn to Slide 5 for the business segment results. SEI's strong financial performance was broad-based. Investment Managers led SEI's organic growth with revenue and operating profit, both increasing by 14% compared to the prior year. Absent the elevated compensation accrual, operating profit would have increased by 17%. Growth was driven by the conversion of prior sales success into revenue and our clients continuing to deploy capital at healthy levels.

Private Banking also posted another strong quarter, with revenue increasing 11% and operating profit increasing 38% compared to the prior year. That performance reflects strong operating leverage, with revenue growth driven by balanced contributions from professional services, platform expansion and international asset management.

Advisers benefited from the acquisition of Stratos, which contributed $23 million of revenue and $4 million of operating profit during the quarter, including $7 million of amortization. Stratos generated $11.5 million of EBITDA in Q3, an increase of 17% from the second quarter. Stratos also completed a tuck-in acquisition and onboarded several advisers during the quarter with additional opportunities in the pipeline. We continue to see interest from long tenured Stratos and SEI advisers seeking succession and continuity solutions, creating another avenue for growth across the combined platform.

Excluding Stratos, Advisors revenue increased 10% and operating profit increased 7% compared to the prior year. Results benefited from higher market values and onboarding clients won over the last year. Institutional revenue declined 2% compared to the prior year, but increased 1% sequentially from the second quarter. Pipelines in our Institutional business are improving, although the timing of when that progress translates into financial results remains difficult to predict.

Moving to Slide 6. Adjusted operating margins increased 260 basis points compared to last year. Sequentially, adjusted operating margins declined 80 basis points due to the higher compensation accrual. Excluding that impact, adjusted operating margins would have increased approximately 20 basis points. We achieved those margin levels while continuing to invest in the business. That includes adding senior talent across data, AI, professional services and asset management, along with continued investment in technology and product development.

We also opened our Singapore office in September, extending our global footprint in creating a platform to support clients with operations and growth ambitions across Asia Pacific. On a sequential basis, excluding incentive compensation, Private Banking and Institutional both generated modest margin improvement. IMS margins were essentially flat, and Advisers margins declined approximately 50 basis points, primarily reflecting investments in technology to support the Stratos adviser experience.

Turning to Slide 7. I Net sales events totaled $47 million, the second highest quarter in SEI's history, with recurring sales events also reaching their second highest level. IMS led the quarter with $32 million of net sales events, with approximately 1/3 driven by new clients and the remainder attributable to client expansions. Demand in the quarter remained strongest amongst alternative asset managers, which drove nearly 90% of sales events.

In July, we launched our retail transfer agency with our first client, with additional launches expected in the coming months. We expect the combined transfer agency and fund administration revenue from the initiative to exceed $10 million on a run rate basis by the end of next year.

Private Banking generated $13 million of sales events during the quarter. Results reflected continued demand for enterprise transformation initiatives, professional services, data cloud capabilities and broader strategic engagements with clients. Nearly $3 million of events came from asset management sales to U.K. intermediaries.

We're also starting to see momentum build in the U.S. The investments and talent we made early in the year to start -- early in the year to start driving asset management conversations are beginning to gain traction. New leadership, clear accountability and a renewed commercial focus are rebuilding pipelines that have been underdeveloped for years. Within Asset Management, positive sales events and advisers of $2 million offset $2 million of negative events in Institutional.

Please turn to Slide 8. Ending AUM was essentially flat for the second quarter, with limited impact from both market movements and net flows. Slightly positive net inflows in Advisers largely offset modest net outflows in Institutional. While flows remain mixed across our asset management businesses, we continue to see traction from newer products and initiatives, including ETFs, SMAs, strategic partnerships and our adviser engagement efforts.

Assets under administration increased 4% compared to Q2, with growth driven by expansion in the IMS business, including the funding of recently won mandates and clients continuing to deploy capital. Assets managed by LSV were down 1% as strong investment outperformance was offset by $5 billion in net outflows, a figure that we expect to improve next quarter. Performance fees in Q3 totaled $4.5 million at SEI share.

Turning to Slide 9. We ended the quarter with $400 million of cash, modestly higher than Q2 despite repurchasing $215 million of SEI shares at an average price of $105. Based on our current outlook, we would expect repurchase activity in the fourth quarter to be similar to the level achieved in the third quarter. Our commitment to share repurchases does not come at the expense of investing in the business. We continue to fund strategic growth initiatives across the enterprise while maintaining significant financial flexibility.

The recent authorization of an additional $800 million of repurchase capacity gives us the ability to remain active well into 2027. In closing, we delivered another strong quarter and remain confident in the outlook for the business. Healthy pipelines and continued client engagement support that confidence as we head into the fourth quarter.

With that, operator, please open the line for questions.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Our first question is from Jeff Schmitt with William Blair.

ช่วงถาม-ตอบ

Jeffrey Schmitt

So I know ETF assets have been growing at a high rate, and you recently announced the integration with ICE ETF Hub. I think, a few weeks ago. So as you begin distributing these ETFs kind of outside of the SEI ecosystem, how should we think about kind of the size and pace of that opportunity?

Ryan Hicke

Yes, it's a great question. Thank you. Our ETF lineup is growing. So we both are growing the number of ETFs. We're out selling both on platform and off platform. And the size, the actual volume of the ETF business overall and the industry is growing as far, tripled just this year in terms of AUM from about $3 billion, $4 billion to about $9 billion, as I said earlier.

So we've also seen other model providers begin to use SEI in their models, and that is a first for the company. So we -- I can't give a number of what I expect the growth to be. But if you look at that business, the ETF business, we are growing our product line up across a range of fee schedules. It's not all very low-cost, cheap betas. There are active strategies, fund-to-funds strategies, across fixed income and equity. I would expect our hope is that, that business has the potential to double again next year. So we see it as a growth engine for us.

Jeffrey Schmitt

Okay. Great. And then just given the strength in IMS, are you running into capacity constraints that could limit how quickly you take on new business? And if so, I guess, could your automation initiatives support higher growth as those kind of progress?

Phil McCabe

Thanks, Jeff. This is Phil. I would definitely say the automation initiative is going to help us with IBM over the next several quarters or so. So we're definitely looking forward to that. We have never had a conversion queue. When a client wants to be converted, we rally the troops and convert them. We do have a lot of business right now, and we are hiring quickly as humanly possible. So it's a constant valet, a juggling act, and we're doing everything we can to bring revenue in as quickly as humanly possible.

Operator

Our next question is from Crispin Love with Piper Sandler.

Crispin Love

Just first on sales wins and IMS specifically the alternatives segment. Can you just discuss the areas where you're seeing the most success today? You've discussed being a leader in private credit and private equity. Kind of out of those 2, where you're seeing the most success? And then beyond PE and private credit, where else are you seeing strength?

Phil McCabe

So Jeff -- I'm sorry, Cris, it's Phil. I look at the pipeline in 3 different ways. I look at first-time outsourcers. So right now, we're doing really, really well with first-time outsourcers. We have 2 of the top 25, and we're probably speaking to another 15 of the top 100 managers out there. So we're really starting to resonate in the market with that.

But that's everything. It's not just private equity or private credit. Most of these managers are multi-strat managers, and we do everything for them. But we are seeing a ton of traction with secondaries out there. In private credit, we're still seeing flows. It's a little lighter on the retail side, but they're still launching flagship products. But we're seeing more insurance money falling or flying into private credit.

Beyond that, on the retirement side of the business, we've closed 14 managers already that want to put alternative products into collective investment trust. So we're seeing a lot of traction there. It's a little bit slow on the funding side, but that only bodes well for the future. And then lastly, we look on the wealth side. and the new TA capabilities enable us to go after interval funds, which we had been losing prior to a couple a few months ago. So we got a couple of them locked down. And we have a bunch stacked up for converting in October, November, December and well into next year.

Ryan Hicke

And Cris, the only other thing I'd add to what Phil said is something that we talked about at the Investor Day and to in the past, we track pretty closely our success rate of new fund launches from existing clients, and that's an area that we just continue to see, I think, outsized growth relative to peers.

Crispin Love

All right. Great. Then a little bit about the expense outlook, just given the success of sales and how that can flow into compensation. You did call out the additional $6 million plus of incentive comp. Is that just based on sales that have already been announced? And then also, as I look at my model on a go-forward basis, is it better jumping off point for expenses, the operating expenses, less that $6 million accrual? Just kind of curious as I look at the fourth quarter and beyond.

Phil McCabe

Well, first off, the $6 million incentive comp accrual is a one-timer that goes away next quarter. We did increase that this quarter. So that's a true-up. There's another 25% that hits in Q4, so call it, $1.5 million. Looking back historically, our incentive comp accrual overall is closer to 100%. So it's fair to call out as being a bit of a choppier impact, certainly in terms of the impact of Q3 results. Good expense from the standpoint that it goes up when the business performs great and if the business performs not great, then it goes down.

Ryan Hicke

The only thing I would add, Crispin, you but -- also, incentive comp is independent of sales comp at SEI. So the incentive comp incentive comp is a variable bonus element to the majority of our workforce that is completely independent of the sales compensation linked to our sales results.

Operator

Our next question is from Alex Kramm with UBS.

Alex Kramm

Just want to come back to your comments on the pipeline. I think you call it healthy and maybe some of this you just answered a couple of questions ago, but can you just give a little bit more detail where you're seeing most of the strength. You made the comment you already exceeded last year. So anything in particular on the 4Q, we should be mindful of? Any big chunky areas? Yes, how do you feel about year-end?

Ryan Hicke

Alex, it's Ryan. I mean, I think we'll do what we normally do on the call. When we get this question is I'll give a high-level overview and then I'll let the unit leads maybe give some color commentary. I think what's really exciting is when you compare Q3 to Q2, they look eerily similar in terms of the spread and the breadth, which is a great thing because we constantly talk about both the qualitative importance of our sales and results are just as important to us as the quantitative, but we really care about repeatability.

When we look at pipelines for Q4 and into early 2027, we see a lot of the same. A lot of the same trends in terms of the segments where we believe we can differentiate a lot of trends in terms of the value proposition residents. But I think it's always great to let Michael or Phil or Sanjay give a little bit of color around kind of what segments or what they're seeing where we continue to win.

Michael Lane

When you think about platform business and you think about custody and Welltec, one of the things that you have to count on, if you want to do something in a large degree, some sort of stimulus. And we're seeing those stimulus happen in the industry right now. There is a competitor to us that just recently announced that anybody where a certain asset level is going to have to lead within the next 9 months that produces and provides an opportunity for us. And so we are all over that opportunity. We think that opportunity industry-wide, just that one occurrence is probably somewhere in the $50 billion mark that will be coming out looking for a new home or platform.

So if you look at our pipelines that are in place right now across the institutional and wealth business, they are at all-time highs. Our institutional business, we have been focusing hard on top line growth. We've been retaining assets very well, but we need to focus more on top line growth. So we have that. Our advisory business has incredible momentum. But the stimulus that has happened in the industry where there's up to $50 billion seeking a new home, we feel will be new pipeline coming into '27. Phil?

Phil McCabe

Sure. Last quarter, I was practically giddy when I was talking about the pipeline. So I was constructed to dial a little bit. What I would say is the outlook is very, very strong for the next several -- several quarters or so. No matter what jurisdiction, no matter what product, I mean things are going really well. So we've talked about retirement. We talked about wealth. We've talked about insourcers to outsourcing. In general, we seem to be clicking on all cylinders. So not sure what else to say other than the team is working really hard, and we expect great things. Sanjay?

Sanjay Sharma

I would echo my colleagues here. Our pipeline is very strong, and we are very excited about it. Ryan, you talked about how we are going to market in PV segment now. We are not just leading with our platform. We are leading in PV segment with enterprise capabilities. And that is generating a lot of new opportunities, not just with new logos, but with existing clients as well.

I think about 100-plus existing clients in PV segment. We are very, very focused on how we can continue to grow our footprint with SEI enterprise capabilities, both here in U.S. as well as in international markets. So we are very excited about our pipeline.

Ryan Hicke

And I'll just say Sanjay, on top of that, Sanjay and I are working closely on bringing investments into banks -- we now have a team of people hired that are going out and capitalizing on the fact that we have deep relationships with banks on the technology side and operation side, but we've never brought investments to them. And as we've grown our investment lineup, we're now bringing that into the banks as well.

Michael Lane

Michael here. I was going to say the same thing and just add a little color of saying to Alex's question, like there are core kind of business areas, but to Sean's commentary around things that we have accelerated and activated in 2026. We are optimistic that things like asset management to the banking space, we're really excited about the momentum we see in Stratos. The Carlyle fund launches in Q4. So we have multiple different things actually that we know will start to get some momentum going into 2027 that we believe will be additive to the success that we've had.

Alex Kramm

Great. Lots of great color. And then maybe just very quickly, on the transfer agency launch, it sounds like one win live so far. Anything else you can talk about in that opportunity specifically? And you mentioned that $10 million by the end of next year. Maybe just -- how do you get there? And what needs to happen for that to actually be exceeded? So just a little bit more color how you're thinking about the ramping of that business.

Phil McCabe

Sure. This is Phil again. So the first one went live on August 3. We have other ones live now. And as I said, we have been stacked up for the next several months or so. I think the $10 million number will be a little bit light. The first deal was about $600,000. And from there, I think it's in a space that we've never been in before. So I think if we just keep doing what we're doing, we're going to be fine.

Operator

Our next question is from Ryan Kenny with Morgan Stanley.

Ryan Kenny

So you called out that the pull forward of net new sales helped drive some of the revenue growth. Is there any effect of accelerated implementation time lines, either because of process improvement or because of AI?

Sanjay Sharma

I can take that. From a private banking wealth managing perspective, as Ryan talked about, the quality of deals we are focusing on is a repeatable business. So we have invested very heavily in our onboarding process. And I think about when our clients are changing the platform pay to our platform, it's a significant undertaking in terms of people, process, technology. And SEI to enterprise capabilities, we have mastered that. So if you look at last 2 plus years, that is how we have like regional community bank space or the PCIM and IFA market in the U.K. It's a repeatable process. We are investing in automation, in AI, and that is helping us to fast track the overall onboarding process.

Ryan Hicke

I think the other thing, Ryan, which is a little bit more kind of independent is when Sanjay and Michael were talking about kind of how we're positioning the company, and we use phrases like an enterprise partner. And I know that sounds kind of trade like jargon, but clients and prospects are letting us in sooner, and we're getting more insight into their current and future operating models earlier in the process.

So that when these deals are struck, we are ready to go and we have a much clearer and granular understanding of what their ultimate destination looks like. So it is the combination of the technology, but I think it's also an additive part of the relationship and the way we've been going to market. We're just a lot smarter when the go button is hit of what we need to do, and that is paying off. And you're seeing it. I think that's why we're installing things faster than we have historically.

Ryan Kenny

That's great. And then you mentioned that the revenue mix is increasingly weighted towards the enterprise-wide sales activity and advisory and business transformation and other initiatives. Are those revenue streams or onetime in nature? Or is there a recurring nature to them that helps the revenue outlook be more resilient over time?

Sanjay Sharma

This is Sanjay again. So if you look at the professional services market, when you look at all these banking clients or any other segment clients, they are making a platform change decision, maybe once in 20 years, 15 years. But then continuously, they are keeping pace with the changes happening in the industry. Those could be driven by regulatory requirements. They could be technology treatment. They could be industry-driven.

And so they're constantly looking for trusted partners who can help them with that change journey. And that's how we are establishing ourselves and differentiating ourselves with other providers that we could be that trusted partner for them to continue to keep pace with the change. And that's where you could see the traction we are having, be it our Data Cloud solution or be it our professional services, even AI adoption.

Sean and I, we are working together. Literally, we talk to each other every day about how we can help our clients to adopt AI. Because this is not easy, that how you implement AI-driven initiatives in your landscape that a class significant undertaking. Reskilling your workflows, adopting new ways of compliance, resilience, and we are the one, we are helping our clients with that journey.

Sneha Shah

Yes. And maybe I'll add there. I think it's really important to understand what clients are going through because they're having to reinvest their operating models in the age of AI. And so they don't see us as just a provider for that one part of their platform. They're actually saying, what are you building that we don't have to? And so we're actually getting business that is recurring business that has nothing to do with what we started the conversation with them a couple of years back with. And we're also creating new services as a result of the client demand.

And so it's really interesting because we're seeing across the industry, people want fewer partners that are trusted, that are deeper in their ecosystem, because the amount of AI tools and the perforation of that is not deriving value for them because the value comes from integrated platforms and context. And that's where we really provide a lot of value to our clients.

Operator

Our next question is from Patrick O'Shaughnessy with Raymond James.

Patrick O'Shaughnessy

How would you characterize the general health of the private credit space right now in light of some of the growing concerns about credit quality? And then what's the read-through in terms of your sales pipeline? It sounds like no impact yet, but are there maybe some cracks starting to emerge?

Ryan Hicke

Phil, you can go. I mean, Patrick, the answer in the second part, there are no crack starting to emerge, but Phil can give clear color on that.

Phil McCabe

Yes. I mean on the private credit side, we track the flagship products, as I said before, that they're looking to launch, and we're still seeing them getting launched on schedule. I do think retail flows are down in private credit, but that didn't impact us before because we've only been in that space for about the last several months. And on the institutional side, we're seeing insurance money flowing into private credit, but that is only a fraction of a fraction of what we do. And we don't see any cracks in any particular part of our pipeline at all anywhere.

Patrick O'Shaughnessy

All right. That's helpful. And a question on Stratos. Can you kind of walk us through the U.S. versus the international strategy of that business at this point?

Ryan Hicke

So today, the Stratos footprint, Patrick, is predominantly the U.S., and they had one Latin American business that was part of their overall kind of ecosystem. That was the MSC business that we called out as determination. But the rest of the business is all domestic.

Operator

Our next question is from Alex Bond and with KBW.

Alexander Bond

I wanted to follow up on some of the commentary around retail alts and the interval fund side. It sounds like the near-term pipeline is strong there. And last quarter, you called out trying to target some of the larger existing funds in that area. So curious if you could share how those efforts, maybe specifically with converting some of the larger existing funds in that area are progressing?

Phil McCabe

Yes. This is Phil again. I think we needed a little bit of a proof case with the first couple of deals that we signed to get them in and done and they seem to be going really well. But I think over time, we'll keep moving up the food chain to try to get larger and larger deals. So as we said before, that market is kind of bifurcated the top 15 or 20 managers have about 60% of that market. So we definitely want to move up. I just think we have to sort of crawl, walk, run. And right now, we're walking and we'll go from there.

Ryan Hicke

And I think the only thing I'd add is we don't ever give out client names as Phil said, but I literally have the pipeline for our RegA in front of me. And as Phil said, we're really optimistic not just in the ability to continue to win business, but the brands that we're winning the business from are the right sort of brands that will put us in a good spot and will continue to grow.

Alexander Bond

Got it. Makes sense. That's helpful. And then also wondering maybe if you can expand on what you're seeing in the institutional business. You noted that it's difficult to time up when some of those pipeline opportunities concerning the revenue events, which is understandable and makes sense. But maybe if you could speak to which areas you're seeing the most traction in as it relates to the pipeline there as of late? And sort of near-term expectations there, that would be helpful as well.

Ryan Hicke

Absolutely. In the institutional pipeline, what we've been focusing on predominantly is in dominant foundation, health care. Those are the 2 primaries. Obviously, we're not focusing on new defined benefit plans. We're retaining the ones we have that haven't funded fully with a surplus that might annuitize at some point. If you look at the losses we had in the third quarter.

One, we had one plant loss that we did what we were supposed to do get into 100% funding ratio and then the annuities. But the pipeline is truly growing in that endowment and foundation space in health care. We are putting all of our resources behind a much more targeted approach to growing the top line than trying to spread a little too thin as we may have in the past.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Our next question is from Dan Weldan with Wells Fargo.

Daniel F. Welden

I'm still recovering from your Jelly Roll quote.

Ryan Hicke

Thanks, Dan. If you might give it was my idea. If you don't, it was Brad.

Daniel F. Welden

Where do we get it? You sound positive on the outlook for private banks. You said expect to remain solid. I wonder if you could drill in a little bit in just the 2 areas. One, the recurring revenue sales events what's sort of driving that momentum? And then secondly, on AMD, you've got 3 quarters of positive flows there, a very good trajectory versus spotty historically. I'm curious on your views on sustainability in that trend.

Ryan Hicke

Yes, Dan, 2 great questions. I'll start and let Sanjay give color. So if you think about historically, private banking, as we said, was basically a cell SWP only value proposition. So when you look at the breadth of recurring revenue, SWP is still at the core of almost all of the sales agendas, but then the expansion, as Sanjay touched on earlier around professional services has really just been an amazing tailwind for the business and something that we see has great durability.

And then if you take your AMD comment, that is all international. And we made a shift about 18 months ago that we have a lot of resources in the U.K. that were split focused on the institutional space and only one resource focused on the intermediary space. And I have a lot of bias given that's kind of where I spent most of my career at SEI in the U.K.

So we shifted it probably one of our best leaders in the U.K. to the A&D intermediary space, gave him some resource to hire some talent and it really has paid off not just with new names, but with reigniting relationships with existing clients. And that's why Sean and Michael and Sanjay, Dan, were calling out that we made a couple of key hires earlier this year because we really believe we have a similar opportunity in the U.S. with our IMU platform and our OCIO capabilities in the banking space. Especially as Michael talked about, a different approach where maybe we are a component in somebody else's model.

So we are really excited about that opportunity. But at the core, we really love what we see in terms of the market core SWP. But when you add professional services and asset management, that's where we get excited about some differentiated top line growth for banking moving forward. But Sanjay, do you want to provide color on kind of the margin when we have those additional solutions?

Sanjay Sharma

Yes, certainly. This anchors us back to what we talked about private banking market on Investor Day, right? We said that apart from going to market with core platform. We'll also be expanding significantly in professional services and asset management. And what you're seeing now that international market is already showing those results and we are expanding through those capabilities in domestic market as well.

One other thing which I would call out once again, I talked about it earlier. Our earlier focus was winning new logos because we are just leading the platform. Think about any of our existing clients, once they buy the platform and if we are not selling them anything else, there's no other opportunity for SEI to grow. We changed that paradigm completely.

And now, while we are changing new logos with our enterprise capabilities, we are also helping our clients to grow their business. And that is translating a new revenue, recurring revenue stream for us. I'll talk about Data Cloud and AI. So think about the industry will keep changing. Based on us, we continue to innovate new services for our clients and help them to keep pace with change. So that's why you could see a good combination of core platform, our enterprise professional services, data cloud, asset management capabilities that will continue to help us to grow our business in this segment.

Operator

There are no further questions at this time. I would like to turn the conference back over to Ryan Hicke for closing comments.

Ryan Hicke

Well, thank you, everyone. This was, again, a terrific quarter. We really appreciate the engagement. We appreciate the support. We're extremely excited about what is ahead of us, and we look forward to speaking with you again next quarter.

Operator

Thank you. This will conclude today's conference. You may disconnect at this time, and thank you for your participation.