Federated Investors has hired a unit of Citigroup to be the service provider for its retail separately managed accounts business.

New York-based Federated tapped Global Transaction Services to provide operational support to 6,000 retail accounts totaling roughly $2 billion in assets under management.

Anne Kruczek, senior vice president at Federated Investment Counseling, said the decision to outsource was triggered by the steady growth in Federated's equity managed account strategies, coupled with the expansion in the firm's product offerings to include fixed-income strategies.

"We were impressed by Citigroup's overall commitment to the SMA business, especially by the knowledge and background of specialists in the space," she said in a statement.

Farming out middle- and back-office functions would enable Federated to focus on investment management, new product development and client service, said Neeraj Sahai, managing director and global head of Citigroup's securities and fund services business. 

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