Hot Off the Presses
Participant and Sponsor Tools
Principal Financial Group introduced a personalized, at-a-glance retirement wellness scoring system for retirement plan participants. The score represents the percentage of a participant’s pre-retirement income he will likely be able to maintain in retirement, from 0% to 100% or higher, and is based on account balances; contribution levels in defined contribution (DC), defined benefit (DB) and nonqualified plans; estimated income from Social Security; outside savings entered by the participant; and other assumptions and data.
The Plan Sponsor Council of America (PSCA) re-launched its online training program for fiduciaries. PSCA’s Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) Fiduciary Training Program is a three-module online course, which can be taken at work or at home, at the individual’s convenience. Each module includes a test. Upon successfully completing the program, the trainee earns a certificate; the Department of Labor (DOL), or other regulatory agency, is then sent documentation that an individual serving as a fiduciary has completed ERISA fiduciary training.
Buck Consultants at Xerox launched SavIncent, an incentive-based financial wellness program. Employees who complete various elements of the program—such as enrolling in a 401(k), signing up for automatic escalation, meeting with an adviser or establishing a will—are rewarded with employer contributions to their savings plan.
ADP Retirement Services, in partnership with TD Ameritrade, provides plan sponsors with a self-directed brokerage account (SDBA) option for their plan participants. This will give them access to: a variety of investments; independent registered investment advisers (RIAs), for retirement account advice and insights about management; and Research and Ideas, TD Ameritrade’s online resource, which offers third-party market analysis.
“Augmented reality technology” via a mobile application (app) from Transamerica Retirement Solutions can help drive up retirement savings, the company says. When users point a smartphone at a printed advertisement, Transamerica shows short videos promoting the need to save for retirement. Transamerica also provides plan sponsor clients with promotional posters that offer the augmented reality experience.
With its new 401(k) Solution product, KPP Financial aims to supply small and midsize companies and nonprofit organizations with in-depth investment advisory services. The 401(k) Solution program moves beyond a one-size-fits-all investing model based solely on participants’ age and other generic demographic information. Additionally, education for plan sponsors and participants is provided through a daily radio show, “InvestTalk,” at www.investtalk.com.
Nationwide’s 3(38) investment fiduciary service now includes fiduciary monitoring of Nationwide ProAccount, the company’s managed account service, at the plan level for no additional cost. When a plan sponsor elects the 3(38) service, IRON Financial assumes the responsibility and legal liabilities associated with selecting, monitoring and replacing plan investments under Section 3(38) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA).
Investment adviser CLS Investments has upgraded its open-architecture (k)Star program in partnership with retirement plan recordkeeper Professional Capital Services to allow plan sponsors to build 401(k) plans from the ground up with multiple service providers.
Pershing LLC, a BNY Mellon company, added new advisory and institutional share classes from nine fund families to its FundVest mutual fund platform. Pershing says it is responding to client and investor demand for more choices and lower fees by adding 271 advisory and institutional class funds to FundVest. This increases the total number of such share class funds in the FundVest institutional program to 1,385, representing 24 fund families.
LPL Financial unveiled its new Worksite Financial Solutions mobile application (app), which extends the retirement plan participant and sponsor services provided through the firm’s desktop platform. LPL says the app gives participants remote account-access, allowing for key account management functions to be performed through a smartphone or other device.
Adviser Tools
Fidelity Institutional has teamed with LearnVest to offer advisers a digital financial wellness support program centered around LearnVest’s educational financial wellness microsite, as well as preferred pricing on that company’s technology-enabled financial planning programs.
The Social Security Optimizer from Franklin Templeton Investments helps financial advisers as they guide clients through important decisions around the timing of taking Social Security benefits. The tool, developed by LifeYield, allows the adviser to begin tailoring a Social Security approach to fit the nature of each client’s overall retirement situation and income plan.
HighTower joined forces with Envestnet | Retirement Solutions (ERS) to provide a retirement plan solution for advisers as they work to meet clients’ needs. The integration of ERS with HighTower’s technology platform lets HighTower advisers expand their client relationships through ERS’s integrated practice management and fiduciary services platform.
Markov Processes International (MPI) released its MPI Stylus Web investment research system as a mobile application (app) for the iPad, Android and Microsoft Surface tablet devices. The app can generate a range of reports, including single manager, manager comparison, portfolio-level, single retirement plan, retirement plan comparison and target-date fund (TDF) analyses.
Securian Financial Group developed Business Owner Life-stage Design, or BOLD, to help advisers address the many financial needs of small-business owners by streamlining their financial priorities into a set of personal and business “lifecycles.” The personal side encompasses objectives such as retirement-income and estate planning, while the business side includes administration of retirement plans, executive compensation, key person protection, succession issues and company valuation.
Omniscient Enterprise Advisor, a platform designed to help financial advisers and registered independent advisers (RIAs) expand and scale their businesses, was introduced by Omni Alliance Inc. The cloud-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) streamlines adviser workflows by integrating client relationship management (CRM), email, calendaring, compliance, document storage, report generation, a client portal, and portfolio management tools into a single software program.
Cetera Financial Group introduced the Advanced Planning Group, a specialist support team that equips the firm’s top advisers with advanced legal, tax, accounting and insurance resources. The services are provided to top-tier advisers across Cetera’s network, the firm says, representing approximately 10% of all its affiliated advisers.
Investments
J.P. Morgan Asset Management now offers R6 share classes of the J.P. Morgan SmartRetirement Mutual Fund series of target-date funds (TDFs). Managed by J.P. Morgan’s Investment Management Solutions – Global Multi-Asset Group (GMAG), the new share class provides a non-revenue-sharing option for retirement plans of all sizes and with varying needs.
In partnership with Hand Benefits & Trust Co., Legg Mason introduced 401(k) Roadmap Funds, a series of nine target-date collective investment funds (CIFs) as successor funds to QS Legg Mason Target-Date Retirement Funds, a series of target-date mutual funds that closed November 14, last year.
Edge 401k Funds’ Edge Collective Fund Series aims to bring financial wellness services to plan participants directly through the investment menu. The series consists of three separate funds—conservative, moderate and growth—managed through Alta Trust, that are similar to asset-allocation funds. The company uses a questionnaire to automatically place participants in one of nine allocations, created from combinations of the three funds.
More than 60 global equity indexes introduced by Morningstar provide benchmarking tools that reflect the performance of equity markets worldwide. Morningstar’s new index family comprises global, regional and country-specific indexes and uses a transparent, rules-based methodology with a focus on the investability of the underlying securities.
Investment manager MacKay Shields LLC is delivering two new bond collective investment trusts (CITs) for defined contribution (DC) retirement plan sponsors. The firm will act as adviser to two SEI Trust Co.-sponsored CITs, implementing MacKay’s Core Plus Bond and Unconstrained Bond strategies.
The Multi-Asset Income Fund from American Century Investments aims to provide sustainable monthly income from a diversified mix of domestic and foreign fixed-income and equity investments. The fund will dynamically allocate across multiple asset classes, including global dividend-paying stocks, utilities, convertible securities, preferred stock, global real estate investment trusts (REITs), master limited partnerships, and the U.S. and non-U.S. bond markets.
Two new fund offerings from The Boston Company Asset Management(TBCAM) will give institutional investors exposure to an energy infrastructure strategy utilizing master limited partnerships (MLPs) and an event-driven absolute return strategy. TBCAM, a Boston-based BNY Mellon boutique, invests in active equity.
Northern Trust Asset Management launched a fund for institutional investors that encompasses quality small-capitalization stocks across global developed equity markets. The global small-cap fund builds on Northern Trust’s Engineered Equity strategies, with $37.4 billion in assets under management (AUM) as of September 30, 2014. The fund is designed to efficiently capture the premium associated with high-quality small-capitalization stocks while minimizing uncompensated risk factors.
Executive Moves
Abigail P. Johnson, granddaughter of the founder of Fidelity Investments, has accepted the position of CEO of Fidelity Management and Research, or FMR LLC. As president and CEO, Johnson, who was named president of the firm in 2012, “will continue to be responsible for executive management of all the firm’s diversified businesses,” according to Fidelity. Johnson takes the helm from her father, Edward C. Johnson III, who will remain as chairman and provide strategic oversight.
Bill Dougherty is now senior vice president and channel leader for Hartford Funds’ defined contribution investment only (DCIO) business. He oversees the firm’s DCIO distribution team, made up of 10 professionals. Other senior executives to recently join the team were John Boyd, vice president and senior national accounts manager, and Dana Hartwell, defined contribution (DC) investment national accounts manager.
Lawrence Raffone became CEO of Financial Engines, succeeding Jeffrey Maggioncalda on January 1. Maggioncalda stepped down from the Financial Engines board of directors on December 31 but will continue to serve as an adviser to the company, under Raffone’s direction, during 2015. Raffone, previously the firm’s president, joined the board on his appointment as CEO.
Michael Kushner joined retirement plan consulting firm Cafaro Greenleaf as director of participant services. Kushner will focus on delivering participant education and financial wellness programs to Cafaro Greenleaf clients, including public and corporate retirement plans, across the U.S.