Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. in New York has added more than traditional custodial services to its online offerings.
Earlier this year, the firm launched a mutual fund supermarketlike platform to distribute third-party funds online in Europe.
The custodial bank is looking to reap the benefits from those banks eager to enter the emerging mutual fund industry overseas, says Timothy J. Connelly, managing director of distributed products at Brown Brothers.
Mr. Connelly hopes BBH's specialization in the custody business, rather than investment and banking, will make its web offering more palatable to its 270 European bank clients.
The site currently allows banks and other custodial and non-custodial clients of BBH to offer their retail or pension clients entree to 120 mutual funds in 12 mutual fund families.
By yearend, Mr. Connelly expects 250 to 300 mutual funds from 25 different fund families will be offered on the website.
The web platform gives information on the mutual funds, most of which don't have transaction fees.
The site also is offering to mutual fund companies an outlet for creating visibility in Europe for offerings that traditionally have been available only to U.S. investors.
"Mutual fund companies in general are dying to crack into the bank channel in Europe because that's where the client is today," he adds.
Brown Brothers is selling the web-based mutual fund distribution service as a byproduct of its custodial and subcustodial relationships.
Officials at BBH estimate the business for third-party mutual funds totals about $5 billion in Europe and is steadily growing as individuals seek retirement investments outside their government-sponsored pension plans, says Mr. Connelly.
