Latest Investment Product and Service Launches

Independent investment advisory Rocaton Investment Advisors is partnering with Penbridge Advisors, a specialist pension information and advisory services firm, to provide corporate sponsors of U.S. defined benefit plans (DB) with “comprehensive analysis and advice for pension risk management, liability-driven investing and pension risk transfer (PRT).” 

Rocaton has also agreed to license annuity buy-out data from Penbridge, which Rocaton will use to monitor the annuity buyout marketplace and incorporate into clients’ pension risk management initiatives, including custom de-risking glide paths. 

Robin Pellish, CEO and co-founder of Rocaton Investment Advisors, says the partnership will “ensure that we provide superior advice and service … Our alliance with Penbridge positions Rocaton to provide a wider array of pension risk management solutions to best serve the evolving needs of our clients.” 

According to Steve Keating, co-founder and principal of Penbridge Advisors, the firm looks forward to working with Rocaton to “bring together the areas of specialty needed to achieve the objectives of DB plan sponsors.” Keating predicts the new coordinated approach will “provide plan sponsors with the broad perspective needed to decide rationally how and when to de-risk.”

For more information, visit www.penbridgeadvisors.com or www.rocaton.com.

 NEXT: Ascensus adds transactions to adviser website

Ascensus has enhanced its financial professional website to provide registered investment advisers (RIAs) with the ability to manage their clients’ retirement plan investments online.

“For well over a year now, Ascensus’ financial professional site has offered advisers a complete menu of available funds across their book of business,” the firm explains. “Each fund listing features a breakdown of Morningstar rating, share class, expense ratio, and past performance.”

Now, Ascensus has “introduced enhanced online fund management capabilities to streamline the investment oversight process.” The financial professional website’s new functionality enables advisers to submit client requests to add funds and exchange funds; update the funds and the underlying percentages of model portfolios they have constructed for their client, including the ability to efficiently manage multiple plans that share the same model portfolios at one time; rebalance model portfolios to targeted allocations; and update model portfolio rebalance frequency.

With the new features, once an adviser submits a request for fund or model modifications online, the required fee disclosure documents are systemically prepared and made available to the plan sponsor. Requests made by advisers not operating as a 3(38) fiduciary are electronically routed to the retirement plan sponsor for approval. With this enhancement, Ascensus aims to save advisers time, reduce their administrative responsibilities, and allow them to engage in plan management at their convenience.

More information is at www.ascensus.com.