Products June 11, 2008

Money Management Firm Enters the Blogosphere

Navellier&Associates decided two new financial blogs will allow them to communicate more effectively with advisers and investors.
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Navellier & Associates, a registered investment adviser (RIA) that manages about $4.5 billion for institutional and individual clients, already publishes a weekly e-newsletter, Marketmail, with market analysis and commentary. However, the firm said it was looking for a medium to facilitate unobtrusive daily contact with investors and financial advisers—and so it turned to the blogosphere a couple of months ago.

The company’s blog posts are written by the firm’s researchers and Louis Navellier, the founder and CIO. The All Cap blog informs readers about what’s driving the stock market on a daily basis, and the Market Observations blog features charts and analysis on the market.

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Although a normal part of the daily lexicon, blogs are not always clear in definition—varying in meaning depending on who is writing it. News outlets often have different standards than do personal blogs. Merriam-Webster defines a blog as “a Web site that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks provided by the writer.’ The Navelllier blog (http://blogs.navellier.com) appears to be generally informative and provides links to important news of the day.

A press release points out that blogging in the financial industry has been difficult because of strict SEC regulations designed to protect the market from fraudulent hype and manipulation. Founder Navellier encourages and open dialogue “so that more investors understand the nuances of the market and his investment philosophy of embracing long-term investment strategies,’ the release says. In the blog comment feature, readers can join in on the discussions taking place.

Deals & People June 11, 2008

Transamerica Chooses SunGard Paperless Office Platform

Transamerica Financial Advisors, Inc., will be the first major independent broker/dealer to deploy SunGard’s paperless office platform TFA Synergy, available through the Protegent Customer Onboard system.
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Transamerica has been using Protegent Customer Onboard to facilitate the opening of new brokerage and non-brokerage accounts. It will now also use the system’s new integration with DST Systems, Inc.’s account Web service, to facilitate the maintenance of new accounts and electronic mutual fund transactions for the direct-to-fund business channel, according to a SunGard news release.

Using Protegent Customer Onboard, advisers will be able to initiate new mutual fund account transactions for mutual fund families that accept DST straight-through processing feeds. Representatives at the firm then complete the appropriate electronic application for a mutual fund transaction, which is then reviewed by Protegent Customer Onboard for data completeness and suitability. Applications are then submitted through the DST interface to the mutual fund family, which can confirm receipt of the application and supply a newly established account number—facilitating tracking and management of the new customer record, the release said.

Paper checks from clients are processed via a conversion to electronic ACH banking instructions through Protegent Customer Onboard, and Transamerica will be able to obtain real-time status reports about submitted business.

“With heightened regulatory scrutiny, increasing cases of identity fraud and prevailing antiquated systems, managing the new account opening process has been a growing challenge for many brokerage and insurance firms,’ said Steve Sabin, chief operating officer of SunGard’s Protegent business unit, in the release. “Protegent Customer Onboard does more than address the manual and disparate process challenges—it is a comprehensive offering that helps firms manage the end-to-end client relationship.’

Protegent Customer Onboard is available as a stand-alone solution or as an integrated component of the Protegent solution suite for management of the compliance lifecycle. SunGard said it helps ensure compliance with FINRA regulations, such as Rule 2821, Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), Customer Identification Program (CIP), and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulations.

More information is available at http://www.sungard.com/PROTEGENT/.

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