Cutwater Investor Services Corp. (New York)


Cutwater Investor Services Corp. is a large advisory firm based in New York. It manages $14.99 billion of regulatory assets for 144 client accounts. It has been registered with the SEC as an adviser since 2010 and has operated in the jurisdictions of Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, and 48 other states.

Cutwater Investor Services Corp provides portfolio management for investment companies, portfolio management for pooled investment vehicles, and portfolio management for businesses and institutional clients. It doesn't provide financial planning services to its clients. On top of advisory services, the firm doesn't engage in other business activities.

Cutwater Investor Services Corp: assets under management

The assets under management (AUM) of Cutwater Investor Services Corp. is $14.99 billion. The firm's AUM has grown by 18% since the beginning of its operation, and $1.55 billion of the total AUM is attributable to clients outside of the United States.

The firm manages $11.7 billion in discretionary accounts and $3.29 billion in non-discretionary accounts. On average, the discretionary accounts where all decisions are made on behalf of the client hold $117 million each. Non-discretionary accounts, where clients actively manage their portfolios, generally hold around $74.85 million.
Cutwater Investor Services Corp has custody of $2.95 billion in cash and securities for 23 clients in total and its related person acts as a qualified custodian.

Investments

The firm invests in government bonds the most. They account for 45% of the total AUM. The second-largest asset type is state and local bonds, which make up 9% of the firm’s portfolio. Investments in cash and cash equivalents form 7% of the total invested assets.

Fees & Commissions

The advisory firm has several streams of revenue. Clients pay Cutwater Investor Services Corp. for their services and products based on a percentage of assets under management and fixed fees. Flat-fee based compensation is the most transparent and the one you can safely predict in advance. These fees don’t include brokerage commissions, interest, taxes, and other account expenses.

What kind of clients Charles Farquharson serves?

The firm provides services to insurance companies, investment companies, charitable organizations, pooled investment vehicles, corporations or other businesses, pension and profit sharing plans, and state or municipal government entities. The largest group of clients of Charles Farquharson is insurance companies with 42 clients and $7.32 billion of assets under management. Among the 10 most similar advisory firms, Cutwater Investor Services Corp has the 2nd highest percentage of insurance companies out of all clients.

The amount of regulatory assets under management is $14.99 billion for 144 clients. 10% of the firm’s clients are foreign persons or businesses.

Cutwater Investor Services Corp also advises several private funds. Namely, four securitized asset funds. The minimum investment commitment required of non-related persons ranges from $25,000 to $250,000.

Careers at Cutwater Investor Services Corp.

The company employs 53 people that are either part- or full-time employees. 49 percent of the employees work as investment advisers or researchers. No employees are registered as investment adviser representatives with the state securities authorities.

There are 2 people with the role of looking for and bringing in new clients on behalf of the firm. The firm doesn’t compensate employees in addition to the salary for bringing in new clients. Employees receive compensation from other entities for client referrals.

Charles Farquharson has been acting as President since 1 Jan 2015. Seth Gelman joined the executive team most recently as the Chief Compliance Officer.

Direct owners and executive officers


Name Entity Date acquired Ownership Employer ID
Llc Cutwater Holdings Direct owner 1 Sep 1998 75% - 100% 06-1185706
Richard John Walz Managing director 1 Jan 2000 Other 1392836
Leonard Israel Chubinsky General counsel and secretary 1 Oct 2000 Other 1779920
Clifford Dean Corso Director and chief executive officer and chief compliance officer 1 Jul 2004 Other 2477519
Marc Dana Morris Director and treasurer 1 Oct 2004 Other 4940660
Richard John Walz Chief compliance officer 1 Oct 2004 Other 1392836
William Charles Fallon Director 1 Jan 2006 Other 5116718
Edmund Gerard Berrigan Director and managing director 1 Jan 2006 Other 1862410
Christos Moros Chief operating officer 1 Jan 2010 Other 5767954
Joseph Lowndes Sevely Treasurer and director 1 Jul 2010 Other 5859817
Michael Joseph Obrien Chief compliance officer 1 Jul 2011 Other 2340336
Michelle C Houck Chief compliance officer 1 Aug 2011 Other 5989616
Charles Farquharson Director 1 Jan 2015 Other 5615773
Mitchell Evan Harris Chairman 1 Jan 2015 Other 4359464
Abdallah Habib Nauphal Director 1 Jan 2015 Other 6155611
Gregory Allan Brisk Director 1 Jan 2015 Other 5859270
Robin Jayne Shulman Chief compliance officer 1 Apr 2015 Other 2719030
Clifford Dean Corso Chief executive officer and chief compliance officer 1 Jun 2017 Other 2477519
Clifford Dean Corso Chief executive officer 1 Nov 2017 Other 2477519
Jonathan Eliot Director 1 Nov 2017 Other 6880760
Danielle Maria Pagano Director 1 Nov 2017 Other 2335850
Seth Gelman Chief compliance officer 1 Dec 2017 Other 4276435

Indirect Owners

The SEC currently registers 4 indirect owners.

Name Entity Date acquired Ownership Employer ID
Mbia Inc. Indirect owner 1 Sep 1998 75% - 100% 06-1185706
L.P. And Affiliates Warburg Pincus Private Equity X Shareholder common stock 1 Mar 2009 25% - 50% 26-0849130
The Bank Of New York Mellon Corporation Indirect owner 1 Jan 2015 75% - 100% 13-2614959
The Bank Of New York Mellon Indirect owner 1 Jan 2015 75% - 100% 13-5160382

Based in New York

The principal office where Cutwater Investor Services Corp. performs its advisory services is located at 200 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10166, which is also the mailing address of the firm. An additional office of the firm is in Denver, CO. It doesn’t run an office outside of the United States.

You can reach the main office by calling the phone number 212-365-3100. The normal business hours are 9:00am - 5:00pm on Monday - Friday. You can find more information about the New York firm at cutwater.com.