SEI has signed an agreement with Intercontinental Exchange to route its exchange-traded product primary market workflow through ICE ETF Hub, the open-architecture platform that has now processed more than $5 trillion in cumulative notional volume as of the second quarter of 2026.

The deal matters for desks on both sides of the ETP creation and redemption chain. ICE ETF Hub currently connects more than 250 issuers, more than 55 authorized participants, and market makers, and supports more than 1,800 ETPs. SEI, as a servicing provider to investment managers, is betting that standardized connectivity and automated order management will let it absorb growing ETP assets and trading volumes without retooling its stack.

What does the integration change?

SEI will use ICE ETF Hub to support the creation and redemption process for ETP issuers. According to the announcement, the integration will "further enhance the efficiency, scalability, and reliability of SEI's ETP order management capabilities."

The platform's design goals are concrete:

• Standardized connectivity across the ETP ecosystem
• Automated order management for primary market workflow
• Simplified creation and redemption across ETPs of numerous asset classes
• Enhanced collaboration among issuers, authorized participants and market makers

For authorized participants, the practical effect is a broader set of issuers reachable through a single standardized channel rather than bilaterally negotiated workflows. For issuers serviced by SEI, the claim is operational: fewer manual steps in the create/redeem cycle and a servicing partner with more capacity to scale.

What is asserted here, rather than measured, is the efficiency gain itself. The hard numbers in the release are adoption metrics — 250-plus issuers, 55-plus APs, 1,800-plus ETPs, and the $5 trillion notional milestone — not latency or cost-per-creation figures.

What are the executives saying?

Sean Lawlor, Head of Public Markets for SEI's Investment Managers business, framed the deal as infrastructure for growth:

"As the ETP market continues to expand, issuers need servicing partners with the infrastructure and expertise to support growth and scale. Our integration with ICE ETF Hub strengthens the operational foundation of our ETP solutions and supports our long-term ETP strategy, giving us the scalability to respond to expanding ETP assets, increased trading volumes, evolving industry standards, and future market innovation."

Lawlor added that the integration "allows us to focus continued investment on the differentiated capabilities, servicing excellence, and innovation that help our clients succeed in a highly competitive marketplace."

Peter Borstelmann, President of ICE Bonds at Intercontinental Exchange, positioned the platform's value in workflow terms:

"By bringing greater automation, standardization, and connectivity to ETP primary market workflows, ICE ETF Hub helps firms reduce operational complexity, manage liquidity, and improve efficiencies across the ETP ecosystem."

Why it matters for execution desks

The primary market is where ETP liquidity originates. Any standardization of the create/redeem process affects how quickly authorized participants can arbitrage premiums and discounts to NAV, which in turn affects secondary market spreads. A platform that now touches more than 1,800 ETPs and processes volume in the trillions is no longer a niche utility — it is core plumbing for the ETP ecosystem.

For SEI's clients — investment managers running ETP issuance programs — the integration shifts operational risk toward a standardized, vendor-operated channel. That comes with a dependency trade-off: workflow efficiency in exchange for reliance on ICE's infrastructure at the center of the creation and redemption process.

Neither company disclosed the terms of the agreement, a rollout timeline, or migration deadlines for existing SEI-serviced ETP programs in the announcement.

What comes next

The $5 trillion cumulative notional figure, reached as of Q2 2026, gives ICE ETF Hub a measurable adoption baseline. Whether SEI's client base adds meaningful incremental volume to that total — and whether automation on the platform translates into measurably lower creation costs for issuers — will be visible in the platform's next volume milestones.