Hot off the presses

Plan Sponsor and Participant Tools 

New York Life Retirement Plan Services redesigned its participant Web site so that it encourages participants to manage all aspects of their retirement planning electronically, while providing traditional functionality.

Fiduciary adviser Roland|Criss launched the Stewardship Development Center (SDC) to train fiduciary leaders and their teams.

Securian Retirement and 401(k) Advisors introduced a 3(38) investment management fiduciary service that allows employers to transfer the responsibility for selecting and monitoring funds to 401(k) Advisors.

MetLife unveiled a program that offers employers and brokers practical strategies for developing more competitive benefits programs for highly compensated employees.

Retirement Made Simpler (RMS) released an online toolkit to provide employers with step-by-step guidance for implementing 403(b) plan automatic features.

Ascensus is offering fiduciary liability insurance through its sister company, Crump Property and Casualty Insurance Services (Crump P&C).

MassMutual’s Retirement Services Division introduced Phase 1 of its RetireSmart Web site for participants.

Nationwide introduced the “On Your Side Interactive Retirement Planner” to help set goals, track progress, and find suggestions for participants in about 10 minutes.

The Guardian Insurance & Annuity Company, Inc., introduced an enhanced fund lineup for its group retirement product platform.

Efficient Market Advisors, an ­exchange-traded fund (ETF) separate account manager, is offering professionally­ managed portfolios of ETFs to 403(b) plans.   

ING DIRECT’s ShareBuilder 401k expanded­ its profit-sharing 401(k) plan to allow small-business owners to award different levels of contributions to their employees based on group-specific criteria.

Primax Payment Systems partnered with Northeast Retirement Services and Union Center National Bank to provide solutions for the administration and recordkeeping of loans under retirement plan programs.

Adviser Tools 

A video series from the Principal Financial Group is designed to help advisers educate clients about nonqualified deferred compensation plans (NQDC).

The Principal has published a white paper that aims to help advisers guide their plan sponsor clients through the search for the best-fitting retirement plan provider.   

The Retirement Income Industry Association (RIIA) and HealthView Services have developed a retirement income management software solution that advisers can use with participants that includes a portion dedicated to unforeseen health-care costs.

Robinson & Associates, a Boise, Idaho-based company that helps advisers with client retention, introduced the Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) calculator.

Howard Capital Management (HCM) and Folio Institutional have made an arrangement to enable Folio-affiliated advisers and their clients to use HCM’s retirement plan analysis tool.

Pershing Advisor Solutions’ white paper, “Creating Growth: The Rewards and Challenges of the Multi-Location Model,” discusses how RIAs can expand business opportunities.

Mid Atlantic Trust Company (MATC) launched ModelxChange, which allows 401(k) professionals to incorporate mutual fund and/or exchange-traded fund investment models into a plan through a Web-based interface.

Beacon Hill Fund Services developed a compliance consulting module for registered investment advisers (RIAs) for form ADV Part 2 amendments.

Fidelity has launched a program, “Options for Independence,” to help breakaway brokers understand the range of options available to them when going independent.

Putnam introduced an online Wealth Management Center that features commentary on a variety of financial planning subjects.

The Insured Retirement Institute (IRI) and RegEd are introducing the “Industry Wide Solution” for the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) annuity suitability requirements.

Transamerica Retirement Services introduced the Total Plan Management program to help financial advisers, third-party administrators, and plan sponsors better administer employer-sponsored retirement plans.

The Retirement Plan Advisory Group (RPAG) updated its adviser-centric Web site, Knowledge Center, with improved navigation and document storage.

The Consortium, a compliance support company, created the “Form ADV Part 2 Brochure Template” in a Microsoft Word format for customization.

LaserFiche announced the collabo­ration of its open enterprise content management (ECM) and Salesforce.com’s CRM systems designed for registered investment advisers.

Mid Atlantic Trust Company (MATC) teamed up, with Inspira to create Total IRA Plus, which enables clients to enter the automatic and voluntary rollover business.

Investments 

Prudential introduced the Prudential­ Protection Account, a guaranteed investment option for its 401(k) clients and their employees that is insured by the FDIC, up to $250,000 per participant.

AllianceBernstein launched Secure Retirement Strategies (SRS), a target-date solution that provides guaranteed lifetime retirement income to ­participants of large defined contribution (DC) plans.

Franklin Templeton Investments has introduced the Franklin World Perspectives Fund, an actively managed, global growth equity fund.

Acadian Asset Management LLC launched the Acadian Emerging ­Markets Debt Fund, a series of the ­Advisor’s Inner Circle Fund Series Trust. (AEMDX).

UBS Global Asset Management launched the UBS Fixed Income Opportunities Fund.

Western & Southern Financial Group’s member companies introduced ­VAROOM—Variable Annuity for Roll Over Only Money—the first variable annuity with individual ETFs as subaccount options.  

Charles Schwab is now offering the Schwab U.S. REIT (SCHH) and the Schwab U.S. Mid-Cap (SCHM) ­exchange-traded funds.

TD Ameritrade is offering retail investors and independent registered investment advisers (RIAs) access to the new issue municipal market through M.R. Beal, a municipal underwriter and one of the nation’s oldest minority-owned investment banks.

Janus Capital Group launched the Janus Global Bond Fund and Janus Emerging Markets Fund.

The Vanguard Group unveiled an international real estate index fund with ETF Shares based on the S&P Global ex-U.S. Property Index.

Charles Schwab Bank added the Schwab Institutional Diversified International Trust Fund to its suite of collective trust funds.

CPI Qualified Plan Consultants, Inc., added exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to its retirement platform.

AllianceBernstein launched the Alli­anceBernstein­ International Discovery Equity Portfolio, which invests in a diversified portfolio of non-U.S. small- and mid-capitalization companies, listed under ticker symbol ADEAX.

BlackRock’s iShares exchange-traded funds (ETFs) business launched the iShares Barclays 0-5 Year TIPS Bond Fund (NYSE Arca: STIP).

Bandon Capital Management, LLC, launched its first mutual fund, the Bandon Isolated Alpha Fixed Income Fund (ticker: BANIX).

WisdomTree introduced the WisdomTree Managed Futures Strategy Fund (WDTI).

Henderson Global Investors launched the Henderson Emerging Markets Opportunities Fund (HEMAX, HEMCX, HEMIX).

The TCW Group, Inc., announced the availability of the TCW Emerging Markets­ Local Currency Income Fund.

Van Eck Global launched an index-based, open-end mutual fund, the Van Eck CM Commodity Index Fund (­tickers: CMCAX, COMIX, CMCYX).