Back Office Deal

Registered investment advisors will have the option to outsource more of their back-office tasks, including “portfolio data management and performance reporting,” after the back-office service provider Etelligent Consulting, Inc. is acquired by the unit of Charles Schwab Corp. that provides portfolio management and accounting systems for RIAs. Schwab Performance Technologies has agreed to buy Etelligent Consulting, based in Overland Park, Kansas, for an undisclosed amount, with the deal expected to close “in the first quarter of 2008,” according to a December 13 announcement.

Calling the deal a “strategic acquisition,” and recognizing that the RIA segment of the market is growing rapidly, Charles Goldman, head of Schwab Institutional, added in the announcement: “Removing back-office challenges is especially critical as more advisors leave established firms and strike out on their own.”