Bisys Fund Services has seen at least two of its bank mutual fund clients walk out the door in recent days. Yesterday, PFPC officials confirmed that they took over fund administration for BB&T Funds (Raleigh, North Carolina), which Bisys had previously handled. Today, an SEC filing shows that Cincinnati-based Fifth Third Funds has also left Bisys for another fund administrator. An industry source told The MFWire that State Street won the Fifth Third mandate.

Spokespeople at Bisys could not be immediately reached for comment, nor could spokespeople for Fifth Third, or BB&T. A State Street spokesperson declined to comment, explaining State Street's policy is to not comment on client related matters. A spokesperson for PFPC referred our reporter to a press release issued Monday and declined to comment further.

Though the two fund firms did not provide explanations for their moves, neither should necessarily be a surprise. The fund administration business at Bisys was thrown into turmoil by two recent events -- a settlement with the SEC in which it admitted to paying kickbacks to some bank run fund complexes in exchange for contracts and the admission by Bisys Group's senior management that they had retained Bear Stearns to explore strategic options for the firm. Those strategic options included an auction of the company that has stalled in recent weeks.

The BB&T mandate moves covers both its funds and variable annuity business. The BB&T Funds family includes 30 funds with $5.5 billion in assets and 65,000 accounts. Wilmington, Delaware-based PFPC will provide BB&T with fund accounting, transfer agency, financial and regulatory administration and distribution services. PFPC will also provide , chief compliance officer support services for the BB&T Funds.

Meanwhile, Fifth Third Fund's SEC filing shows that BISYS Fund Services Ohio, Inc. provided sub-administration services to the funds until May of this year. The filing did not show a date for the May switch. It added that a successor sub-administration services provider took over for Bisys, also on an unspecified date in May.

Bisys provided Fifth Third Funds transfer agent, fund accounting and dividend disbursement services, according to the SEC filing. The filing added that the new provider, which it did not identify, will also provide custody services to the firm.

That new provider is State Street, according to an industry executive. 

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