How a European fund administrator achieved data-driven pricing by connecting fee governance, operational metrics, and client-level profitability insight.
A Luxembourg-headquartered European fund administrator serving thousands of funds needed clearer visibility into client-level profitability and stronger pricing discipline as fund complexity and transaction volumes increased. With PureFacts, the firm centralized fee schedule management, improved fee calculation governance, and connected operational service metrics to financial outcomes, enabling data-driven pricing and smarter resource allocation.
The firm’s revenues are driven primarily by:
- Fund accounting fees (often based on NAV frequency or AUM)
- Shareholder servicing fees (per investor account or transaction)
- Custom service fees (e.g., reporting, regulatory, compliance services)
To manage this complexity at scale, the firm needed a more disciplined approach to fee schedules, fee calculation, and profitability insight.
The Challenge: Limited Profitability Transparency and Pricing Control
As fund complexity and operational volume increased, the firm faced four material challenges:
- Client-level profitability blind spots: Limited transparency at fund and client level made it difficult to identify underpriced or loss-making clients.
- Fees misaligned with operational effort: Growing complexity and transaction volumes were not adequately reflected in pricing, contributing to margin erosion.
- Lack of actionable insights: Without activity-based insight (NAVs, transactions, etc.), pricing and resource decisions relied on assumptions rather than data.
- Disconnected financial and service performance data: SLA issues and operational strain were not systematically linked to profitability, limiting proactive management.
The Solution: Fee Schedule Governance + Integrated Profitability Insight
PureFacts enabled the firm to bring greater structure and visibility to pricing and profitability by:
- Using PureFacts Fee Manager to maintain fee schedules and calculate fees, integrated with the firm’s existing billing/booking system.
- Creating a consistent foundation for fee governance—supporting pricing discipline across different products, clients, and service models.
- Linking operational performance measures (including SLA metrics) with financial fee data to enable profitability-based decision-making.
The Results: Data-Driven Pricing Decisions and Better Strategic Focus
With PureFacts in place, the firm achieved measurable business outcomes:
- Enabled data-driven pricing and repricing decisions: Highlighted low-margin or loss-making clients and supported fact-based fee renegotiations and deal pricing for new mandates.
- Linked profitability with SLA performance: By integrating SLA metrics with financial data, the firm could proactively address service issues before they escalated into client dissatisfaction.
- Improved resource allocation and strategic focus: Insights into cost-to-serve and profitability helped management rebalance staffing, exit unprofitable clients, and focus growth on higher-margin fund types.
By connecting pricing, profitability, and service performance into a single decision framework, the firm strengthened margin control and improved management’s ability to prioritize the right client and fund opportunities for sustainable growth.
