Investment Product and Service Launches

Art by Jackson Epstein

Timeline Partners with Morningstar Aggregation Service

Timelineapp Tech Limited, a fintech company, and Morningstar ByAllAccounts, have announced an integration. The two organizations will give advisers a view of portfolios within Timeline by aggregating securities and alternative investments from multiple custodians through ByAllAccounts.

Users of Timeline will now be able to connect their account with ByAllAccounts in a three-step account setup process. The integration will allow users to import data directly from any investment institution in the United States, which eliminates the need for advisers to manually enter data and reduces human error. Once all data has been imported into Timeline, advisers can verify the withdrawal success rate of a client’s portfolio over time and provide a withdrawal strategy.

“Morningstar’s mission is to empower investors whether through our own products or through fintech solutions like Timeline,” says David Johnson, head of ByAllAccounts. “Goal planning is one way that advisers can help their clients be successful. The Morningstar ByAllAccounts team is very pleased to be the data aggregator for the Timeline solution.”

“We’re thrilled to integrate with Morningstar ByAllAccounts, which is one of the most trusted aggregation technology platforms available in the U.S.,” says Abraham Okusanya, CEO at Timelineapp Tech Limited. “It’s an exciting time for Timeline as we continue to innovate and develop our next-generation retirement income software for financial advisers.”

Watchdog Capital Introduces Securities Platform

Watchdog Capital has announced a digital securities platform, allowing firms and individuals who meet a strict compliance screening process to affiliate with Watchdog and access its technical and operational capabilities.

The firm intends to build a platform that is both compliant with regulations while also embracing new technology, and believes that compliance with securities regulations can be compatible with decentralized and distributed technology.

“Many of the ideals from the Bitcoin industry can benefit the securities industry. Cypherpunks write code to protect consumers and their privacy and to give them more control over their digital lives. This isn’t at odds with the pro-free market ideals of the U.S. stock markets, in fact it can be very complimentary. Watchdog believes in cypherpunk values, privacy, personal property rights, Austrian economics, security and Bitcoin as global money. The firm will work to push the limits of this technology as the digital securities ecosystem evolves,” says Bruce Fenton, CEO of Chainstone Labs, owner of Watchdog Capital.

Core to the firm’s mission is using the technology of Bitcoin and other blockchains to modernize the securities markets. “Watchdog is particularly interested in the future of technologies like decentralized exchanges, cross chain atomic swaps, the Lighting network and privacy tools for digital assets. This is an ever-evolving area and the team believes we can merge the best of decentralized technology and its core values in a regulated environment,” says Fenton.

The broker/dealer platform allows independently owned startups and existing independent advisers and companies to affiliate with Watchdog under their supervisory umbrella. According to the firm, affiliated firms and individuals will work in a decentralized and distributed supervisory model with Watchdog Capital providing back office, technology and compliance support. The process includes extensive approval, licensing and oversight requirements.

Currently the firm’s services are only open to select high net worth investors and through partnerships and affiliations. However, as the industry and regulatory environment matures, the firm plans to expand offerings. Any purchases, sales and offerings will go through a rigorous compliance approval process, says Watchdog.  The firm is open platform and will focus on Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)-registered and regulated offerings.

Principal Global Investors Creates Combined Emerging Market Fixed Income Team

Principal Global Investors has announced that it will align market fixed-income capabilities within Finisterre Capital and Principal Global Fixed Income to meet client demand and future product development.

“For investors looking for income, emerging markets represent a critical opportunity across asset classes as these geographies are experiencing significant demographic change and economic growth,” says Pat Halter, president and CEO of Principal Global Investors. “As a combined emerging market fixed income team, we will be set up for greater collaboration between investment teams, leading to more innovative solutions to meet client needs.” 

As part of the alignment, Principal will acquire the remaining stake in Finisterre Capital, of which it has had a majority stake since 2011. The investment process and teams for Finisterre and Principal Global Fixed Income remain unchanged.

“Together, our teams will manage more than $7.6 billion in assets and cover the full spectrum of emerging market fixed income solutions to meet investors’ needs through varying market cycles,” says Halter.

BNY Mellon Presents Japan Womenomics Fund

BNY Mellon Investment Management has launched Dreyfus Japan Womenomics Fund. The fund is sub-advised by BNY Mellon Asset Management Japan Limited (BNYMAM Japan), an affiliate of the fund’s investment adviser, and The Dreyfus Corporation, BNY Mellon’s U.S. Fund Platform.

The fund is expected to invest in Japanese-listed companies that BNYMAM Japan believes will benefit from the Japanese government’s “Womenomics” initiative, which seeks to enhance economic growth in Japan through improved gender parity in the workforce. The Womenomics initiative includes efforts to ease barriers to female employment outside the home, promote women to leadership positions, and close the gender pay gap. Recent government policies to support the initiative have included the labor reform law, expanding day care facilities, and a law requiring action plans from companies of a certain size to increase female employment.

“Dreyfus Japan Womenomics Fund is BNY Mellon’s first U.S. thematic fund offering investors direct exposure to the improving Japanese economy,” says Alicia Levine, chief strategist, BNY Mellon Investment Management. “With the increase in investor demand for strategies tied to unleashing female potential and improved gender diversity, the Dreyfus Japan Womenomics Fund offers a solution for growth-seeking investors in one of the only nations with a sustained program in place to advance the economic opportunity of women in society.”

BNYMAM Japan will use an investment process that combines analysis and security valuation with the Womenomics growth theme. Additionally, the firm plans to invest in Japanese companies that will benefit from the Womenomics initiative, including those that actively hire and promote women, provide products or services which target women, and benefit directly or indirectly from the economic potential of improved gender parity in the workforce.

The fund is managed by five members of the Japan Equity Investment Division at BNYMAM Japan; Makiko Togari, the Fund’s lead portfolio manager, Miyuki Kashima, Masafumi Oshiden, Kazuya Kurosawa, and Takashi Shimoyanagita. The fund is not managed to a benchmark index, nor will the fund’s portfolio have the same characteristics as its designated broad-based securities market index, TOPIX Total Return Index, a market capitalization-weighted index consisting of all stocks traded on the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

“Using Womenomics as a filter, the fund seeks to offer investors dual exposure to a measurable secular growth theme and Japan’s economic recovery,” says Kashima. “The fund’s investment criteria are derived from data we believe consistently demonstrate the escalating power of the female consumer as women become a larger percentage of the labor force and the outperformance of companies that employ and promote more women. The fund seeks to offer investors a differentiated way to access the Japanese market through an active, fundamental approach to isolate growth companies.”

The fund offers Class A (DJWAX), Class C (DJWCX), and Class I (DJWIX) shares with a minimum initial investment of $1,000. The fund also offers Class Y (DJWYX) shares generally with a minimum initial investment of $1,000,000.