Hot off the Presses
PLAN SPONSOR & PARTICIPANT TOOLS
A new guide from the Principal Financial Group, “Navigating Your Way through Market Turbulence,” takes a look at how the market volatility may be affecting four retirement plan types—defined benefit (DB), defined contribution (DC), employee stock ownership plan (ESOP), and nonqualified deferred compensation (NQDC)—and offers action steps to consider for each plan type.
CPI Common Remitter Services, a division of CPI Qualified Plan Consultants, Inc., released CRS PDQ, a 403(b) common remitter and compliance oversight program.
MetLife announced the national expansion of its retirewise program, a series of four, two-hour proprietary solutions-oriented seminars that provide a comprehensive view of retirement.
In its first white paper, “Institutional Retirement Income Solutions: A Call to Action,” the Institutional Retirement Income Research Council (IRIRC) discusses why DC plan sponsors should consider adding retirement income solutions to their plans. The paper is available through www.irirc.com.
Rocaton Investment Advisors launched a tool providing plan sponsors with a new way to judge the level of fees and expenses they are paying for their defined contribution programs. The firm says the Rocaton Defined Contribution Fee and Expense Scorecard provides an analytical framework for breaking down expenses into their component parts.
The Principal Financial Group introduced a planning analysis designed to assess and address widening business and personal financial gaps for business owners. The free Business Owner Gap Analysis guides business owners in taking a critical look at long-term financial needs, including retirement.
Ohio-based consultant Oswald Financial, Inc., launched a retirement plan hot line for employers and retirement plan fiduciaries. Oswald says the hot line provides advice and guidance on plan design, implementation, and management, as well as assistance with any and all other questions, including the market and economic downturn and new regulations regarding fee disclosures.
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) launched the Fund Analyzer, an online tool to help mutual fund investors with investment choices, available at www.finra.org/fundanalyzer.
The Newport Group is now making its participant account statements and participant Web site available in Spanish.
Bukaty Companies Retirement Plan Services, a division of Bukaty Companies, launched a toll-free retirement plan “helpline” for retirement plan sponsors unclear of their fiduciary responsibilities in light of the ongoing economic recession. Callers can receive advice about investment monitoring and how to ensure plan investment options are suitable for participants, as well as information about new regulations regarding fee disclosures and other requirements.
The Merrill Lynch Retirement Group introduced a communication program, Achieve Life, to help workers appreciate their company benefits, understand the need to save for retirement, motivate them to take action, and help them make the appropriate choices for their retirement savings.
ADVISER TOOLS
John Hancock Financial Network (JHFN) is implementing a business model offering financial professionals a choice of three types of affiliation, based on the level of independence and support they want.
Morningstar has introduced several enhancements to its investment Web site, including expanded benchmarks, customization capabilities, and new data. New features include European and Asian Indexes, commodities and Treasury yield data, corporate earnings and economic calendars, and news headlines from global markets.
Sigma Planning Corporation (SPC) and FundQuest launched a new managed account platform for Sigma’s national network of 500 investment adviser representatives. The new platform includes FundQuest’s technology, back-office services, adviser productivity tools, performance reporting, and investment research.
Impact Technologies Group, Inc., a provider of financial software and services, launched PlanLab News, an online news site. The site (news.planlab.us) is dedicated to timely articles, sales tips, and product information for the financial services industry.
Focus Financial Partners LLP formed a consulting service for “elite broker teams” establishing fee-based registered investment advisory (RIA) firms. Through Focus Connections, advisers who have made the decision to go independent can work with an interim COO who guides them through the range of start-up issues, including everything from the mechanics of setting up a small business to best practices for running an RIA.
A group of technology providers to the independent financial advisory industry banded together to launch the Independent Advisor Technology Forum (IATF). The forum, at www.iatechforum.com, aims to help newly independent financial advisers set up their businesses.
OppenheimerFunds, Inc. (OFI) Retirement Solutions Division announced the launch of Lifetime Income Distributor, a free investment and income management program designed to help advisers create and implement retirement income strategies. The firm says the program enables advisers to determine sustainable withdrawal amounts and develop automated cash flow strategies to provide a steady stream of income for their clients in or entering retirement.
Pershing LLC, a subsidiary of The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation, launched Advisor in Transition, a practice management program. Pershing says the program is designed to help wirehouse advisers explore alternative affiliation models—like joining or starting a broker/dealer firm, RIA practice, or hybrid firm that offers both commission and fee-based service—and provide them with tools to make that transition.
Fidelity Investments launched Fidelity WealthCentral, a Web-based wealth management platform for RIAs. The firm says the platform brings together portfolio management, customer relationship management (CRM), financial planning, portfolio rebalancing, and trading into one unified workstation.
Charles Schwab will start off the first quarter of 2009 with three new reports to provide practice management guidance to advisers. The three reports, part of the Schwab Market Knowledge Tools (MKT) series, will be about: how advisers can grow their business with trust services; “The 2008 Best-Managed Firms MKT”; and an outline for best practices for CRM system implementation.
Fidelity Investments introduced enhancements to its HybridOne offering for dually registered advisers. The firm says advisers now are able to sign on to their workstations just once to view both their commission- and fee-based account activity across the two brokerage platforms. Other enhancements include the HybridOne B/D Connect Program, which can refer advisers to a network of broker/dealer client firms on National Financial’s platform that are willing to accept commission assets from RIAs.
ETFs
WisdomTree, an exchange-traded fund (ETF) sponsor and index developer, launched the WisdomTree LargeCap Growth Fund (ROI) on the NYSE Arca. ROI, with an expense ratio of 0.38%, is designed to track the WisdomTree LargeCap Growth Index, a fundamentally weighted index that measures the stock performance of approximately 300 large-cap growth companies in the U.S.
ProFunds Group launched a dozen new ETFs. The firm says that the ETFs were the first ETFs in the U.S. to provide short exposure or to provide leveraged exposure to commodities or to the euro and the yen. ProFunds also launched what it calls the first ETFs in the U.S. to provide short or leveraged exposure to gold or silver.
MetLife announced that State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) will subadvise two tactical asset allocation portfolios investing primarily in ETFs. For the new SSgA Growth ETF Portfolio and SSgA Growth & Income ETF Portfolio, SSgA will take a tactical asset allocation investment approach covering the major stock, bond, and cash asset classes of both developed and emerging markets.
INVESTMENTS
Morningstar Investment Services introduces three new managed portfolios: the Tortoise, the Hare, and Dividend Stock Baskets. The Tortoise stock basket invests in the stocks of slower-growing, relatively stable, top-tier businesses that typically are well-entrenched in the various markets in which they operate, while the Hare stock basket invests in the stocks of firms that are experiencing rapid growth, emphasizing those that have carved out a defensible niche and are selling at reasonable prices.
Putnam Investments announced the merge of half a dozen equity funds to remove product redundancies. Putnam says the acquiring fund is the larger of the two funds and shareholders in funds to be merged are generally expected to benefit from reduced expense ratios.
T. Rowe Price launched the Global Large-Cap and Global Real Estate strategies with offerings tailored for institutional and retail investors as well as shares available through advisers.
Prudential Fixed Income Management has made its nine fixed-income collective trust funds available to DC plans. Prudential says the funds, offered within the Prudential Trust Company Collective Trust, cover a range of sectors, including enhanced index bonds, core and core plus bonds, inflation-protected securities, U.S. corporate bonds, high-yield bonds, bank loans, and international bonds and emerging market debt. The trust also offers growth equity, real estate, and quantitative equity funds.
JennisonDryden reopened the Jennison Small Company Fund. The fund initially closed to most new investors in April 2007 and imposed additional sales restrictions in October 2007.
Mackenzie Financial Corporation launched Mackenzie Ivy American Class, an equity fund that will invest mainly in high-quality U.S. companies. The firm says it will select businesses that are attractively priced in the U.S. equity market.
The Vanguard Group plans to offer its first international small-cap index fund. The Vanguard FTSE All-World ex-US Small-Cap Index Fund will offer three share classes (Investor, Institutional, and ETF) and is expected to be available in the first quarter of 2009. The target benchmark for the fund is the FTSE Global Small Cap ex US Index, a market-capitalization-weighted index of stocks traded on markets outside the U.S.
Curian Capital, LLC, an RIA that provides a fee-based separately managed account (SMA) platform to financial professionals, has expanded its Custom Style Portfolios to include two Income Implementation Strategies, seeking to emphasize income generation while attempting to protect against inflation.
Brandes Investment Partners, L.P., introduced two mutual funds: The Brandes Institutional Global Equity Fund (ticker: BIIEX) is a new fund, while the Brandes Institutional International Equity Fund (ticker: BGVIX) is an existing fund that has reopened since being closed to new investors on September 30, 1998.
Symetra Life Insurance Company announced its Stability Suite, which provides guaranteed interest rate returns, market risk-proof reliability, and income protection. The suite includes The Advantage Income Annuity, designed to reduce financial risks, and Custom Fixed Annuities to help build tax-deferred retirement savings.
Illustration by Zejian Shen