Vermont Governor Phil Scott has signed an infrastructure bill that
includes a provision directing the state to study and implement the
Green Mountain Secure Retirement Plan, a voluntary retirement program
for businesses with 50 or fewer employees.
According to text of the bill,
the Green Mountain Secure Retirement Plan will be a multiple employer
plan (MEP) that automatically enrolls employees while giving them the
choice to opt out. The plan will be funded by employee contributions,
with an option for future voluntary employer contributions.
A
committee has been set up to develop recommendations for the design,
creation and implementation of the plan, and has been tasked with
reporting to the State General Assembly on or before January 15, 2018.
The
bill says the state will implement the MEP on or before January 15,
2019. In a statement, Vermont State Treasurer Beth Pearce said, “Every
Vermonter deserves an opportunity for a lifetime of financial wellbeing.
The passage of this bill will allow the State to make substantive steps
towards implementing a voluntary retirement program for Vermonters who
currently lack access to employer-sponsored retirement plans. This
program will broaden the opportunity for more Vermonters to be better
prepared for retirement and in doing so strengthen the economic vitality
of our State.”
Last year, the Department of Labor (DOL) issued
final rules offering a safe harbor from the Employee Retirement Income
Security Act (ERISA) for state-run plans for private-sector employees.
However, Earlier this year, Congress passed, and President Donald Trump
signed resolutions to roll back the regulatory safe harbors, so the DOL removed its regulations from the Code of Federal Regulations.
Nonetheless, several states are moving forward with their versions of such retirement plans, including Washington, Oregon and California.
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Charles Schwab Adds More Commission-Free ETFs; John Hancock
Continues Reducing Mutual Fund Fees; Rise Financial Opens its Doors for
Socially Responsible Investing; and more.
Charles Schwab has expanded its suite of commission-free
exchange-traded funds (ETFs). The Schwab ETF OneSource
lineup will now include 15 new investment vehicles. These additions allow
Charles Schwab to offer 245 ETFs covering 69 Morningstar Categories with $0
online commissions, no enrollment requirements and no early redemption fees.
Additions to the program include a variety of Morningstar
categories such as High Yield Bond, Energy Limited Partnership and Diversified
Emerging Markets. Sixteen ETF providers participate in the Schwab ETF OneSource
program including ALPS Advisors, Deutsche Asset Management, John Hancock
Investments, and J.P. Morgan Asset Management.
“Schwab ETF OneSource continues to grow as investors and
advisers allocate more of their portfolios to ETFs,” says Heather Fischer, vice
president, ETF & Mutual Fund Platforms at Charles Schwab. “It’s extremely
important to offer a broad selection of ETF categories and ETF providers, so
that investors have the most choice when evaluating commission-free ETFs.”
NEXT:John Hancock Continues Reducing Mutual Fund
Fees
John Hancock
Continues Reducing Mutual Fund Fees
John Hancock Investments has announced expense
reductions on six mutual funds and two closed-end funds representing more than
$6.9 billion in assets under management. Reductions of up to 20 basis points—or
as much as 17% per fund—vary by fund and result from a combination of direct
management fee cuts, contractual expense caps, new breakpoints, and growing
economies of scale.
The announcement marks the third expense reduction this year
for John Hancock Investments. In April, the firm implemented new fee schedules
for John Hancock Seaport Fund and John Hancock Emerging Markets Fund. In
February, it cut fees on some of its target-date portfolios for the defined
contribution (DC) retirement plan marketplace following multiple rounds of
expense reductions since 2014.
"At John Hancock Investments, we remain intensely
focused on expenses and on ensuring that our funds are competitively priced for
investors,” says Andrew G. Arnott, president and CEO. “That is an important
facet of our goal of maximizing the value we provide our mutual fund
shareholders.”
A table listing reduced fees for John Hancock
mutual funds can be found at JohnHancock.com.
NEXT: Rise Financial
Opens its Doors for Socially Responsible Investing
Rise Financial Opens
its Doors for Socially Responsible Investing
The San Francisco Bay Area is now home to Rise Financial, a
new advisory firm focusing on socially responsible investing (SRI). In recent years, major assets have been
pouring into these strategies. The US SIF Foundation found that the total
assets under management using socially responsible strategies was $8.7 trillion
at the start of 2016, representing an increase of 33% since 2014, according to the announcement. Moreover, the
number of SRI-focused companies and investment products continues to rise.
There are now 181 SRI mutual funds and 39 exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the
U.S.
Rise Financial founder and CEO Ken Ancell has worked in the
investment industry for more than 30 years. Fifteen of those have been spent as
a financial adviser investing in companies and solutions looking to bring about
positive social and environmental change.
"I started Rise Financial not to capitalize on the
growing trend in the industry, but to help individual investors in the
community make positive social changes," says Ancell. "Our goal at
Rise Financial is to promote social causes through responsible investing while
at the same time helping people save for their future."
Rise Financial offers individual, families and institutional
investors various services including investment management, estate planning,
charitable giving, tax planning, insurance services and retirement planning.
The firm offers various SRI options as part of their portfolio planning
services.
dv01, a reporting and analytics platform serving institutional
investors, announced a partnership with the consumer credit platform
Upgrade.
Initially, the collaboration will provide investors with
access to Upgrade data via dv01’s analytics platform which includes a portfolio
management solution. Investors later will have access to a suite of tools
designed to aid in high-level portfolio overview. These components also will
offer guidance on loan composition, performance metrics, and credit metrics.
"We're excited that Upgrade chose to partner with dv01
at the very beginning of its working relationship with capital markets," says Perry Rahbar, founder and CEO of dv01. "This partnership ensures that
Upgrade investors will have full transparency into their loan portfolios, as
well as best-in-class tools to streamline reporting and analytics
efforts."
dv01 will also act as loan data agent for Upgrade's
securitizations and provide investors access to its Securitization Explorer,
which includes loan-level performance and composition details of upcoming
deals, as well as reporting and analytics tools for use after a deal closes.
Upgrade expects to access the securitization market on a quarterly basis.
"We intend to bring a new wave of innovation and increased
transparency to both sides of the marketplace, consumers and investors," says Upgrade Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer Renaud Laplanche. "In
particular, we are committed to increasing transparency for both whole loan
buyers and securitization investors. Our partnership with dv01 will provide
institutional investors access to the most up-to-date Upgrade data
available—including monthly refresh of credit bureau information—and the tools
necessary to analyze that data efficiently."
OppenheimerFunds
is expanding its Beta Solutions product offerings with the launch of three new
revenue-weighted exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the emerging, global and
international market segments.
The
firm has introduced Oppenheimer Emerging Markets Revenue ETF (REEM),
Oppenheimer Global Revenue ETF (RGLB), and Oppenheimer International Revenue
ETF (REFA).
"Our
newest ETF solutions were created in direct response to our clients' growing
appetite for revenue-weighted strategies in the global marketplace," says
Sharon French, head of Beta Solutions at OppenheimerFunds. "Our approach
offers a durable value proposition, with attractive risk-adjusted performance
and the broad market diversification that has historically attracted investors
to index strategies."
Oppenheimer
Emerging Markets Revenue ETF (REEM) seeks to outperform the MSCI Emerging
Markets Index, with an expense ratio of 46 basis points. Oppenheimer Global
Revenue ETF (RGLB) seeks to outperform the MSCI All Country World Index, with
an expense ratio of 43 basis points. Oppenheimer International Revenue ETF
(REFA) seeks to outperform the MSCI EAFE Index, with an expense ratio of 42
basis points.
The
securities in each of the new funds are weighted by their trailing 12-month
top-line revenue, rather than their market capitalization, with a 5% maximum
portfolio weight for any one issuer. The funds are rebalanced quarterly.
Oppenheimer's
fundamentally weighted ETFs offer a way for advisers, wealth managers, and
consultants to access broad market exposure in a potentially more optimal way
than traditional market capitalization strategies. By weighting securities in
broad market indices based on revenue rather than market capitalization, the
fundamentally weighted strategies offer the opportunity to reduce overexposure
to potentially overpriced sectors and stocks while still providing the broad
diversification of an index.
"As
we continue to build out our smart beta business, we're pleased to offer new
International and Global ETF products that complement our long history of
global investing and allow our clients a new way to access the international
markets," says Art Steinmetz, Chairman and CEO, OppenheimerFunds.
The new offerings
build on the firm's existing suite of Oppenheimer Revenue Weighted ETFs, which
include solutions in the environmental, social and governance (ESG) space, and
also broaden the firm's overall investment platform, which includes actively
managed equity, fixed-income, alternative and multi-asset solutions.