Deals & People December 10, 2008

Adviser-Owned, National Investment Advisory Firm Launches

HighTower says it is the first adviser-owned, nationally branded, fiduciary financial services firm dedicated to serving high net worth investors.
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The company’s advisers are experienced investment professionals with large, established practices serving high net worth clients and offering fee-based advice, according to a press release.

Led by CEO Elliot S. Weissbluth, the firm is headquartered in Chicago and has corporate offices in New York and San Francisco. HighTower has several adviser locations around the country, with more advisory teams scheduled to join in early 2009.

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“The current environment has created unprecedented opportunity for wirehouse brokers looking for alternatives to big brokerage firms. HighTower has established a safe, stable and client driven firm that provides virtually all of the services that a large wirehouse firm has historically provided with none of the conflicts,” Doug Brown, former Vice Chairman of Morgan Stanley and CEO of DLB Capital, a capital investor and HighTower Director, said, in the release.

HighTower’s capital partners include M.D. Sass – Macquarie Financial Strategies Fund, Franklin Mutual Advisers and Envestnet, among others, the company said.

More information is available at www.hightoweradvisers.com.

Products December 10, 2008

ING Broker/Dealers Launch Paperless Process for Advisers

The broker/dealers of ING Advisors Network have begun rolling out imaging to enable their registered representatives' offices to become virtually paperless environments.
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The imaging system, which is integrated into the broker/dealers’ propriety platform, ING SmartWorks, will enable ING’s representatives to capture, process and retrieve documents vital to their broker/dealer and non-broker/dealer business, according to a press release.

ING broker/dealers have already been handling most back-office operations through imaging, the company said. The new effort, which began rolling out over the past month, will integrate existing system data and will allow supervisors and operations staff to easily access appropriate documents. Non-broker/dealer business documents are segregated, so that they are not accessible by ING Advisors Network or their individual broker/dealer.

“The Web integration means that our reps only need a scanner to go paperless,” said Kevin Laraia, COO at ING Advisors Network, in the release. “As we move towards straight-through processing and continue to expand functionality of our systems, the staff time saved by not faxing, mailing, and filing can be used to better serve clients and build their businesses. Best of all, because it is Web-based, they have access from anywhere—an off-site client meeting, at home, or at the office.”

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