Product Partnerships – 11/22/23

Luma Financial Technologies Partners With RetireOne to Enhance RIA Access

Luma Financial Technologies LLC, an alternative investment platform, announced a partnership with RetireOne Inc., a platform for fee-based insurance solutions.

Luma’s platform will now integrate RetireOne’s fiduciary marketplace of commission-free annuity and insurance solutions, providing non-insurance licensed registered investment advisers with a way to manage annuity offerings for their clients.

“There continues to be strong RIA demand for annuities and it is our mission to continue increasing availability and transparency of these products so financial professionals are best equipped to serve their clients’ insurance solution needs,” Brady Beals, director of investment solutions at Luma Financial Technologies, said in a statement.

The partnership combines Luma’s annuity product evaluation tools with accessibility to RetireOne’s advisory solutions. Luma’s platform is equipped with various resources, allowing RIAs and fee-based advisers to offer clients access to suitable annuity solutions as part of their holistic portfolios.

IFC, T. Rowe Price to Create 1st Blue Bond Strategy

IFC—the International Finance Corp., a member of the World Bank Group—and T. Rowe Price announced plans to create a global blue bond strategy to increase access to finance for ocean-based environmental projects in emerging markets and help improve market standards for the nascent blue bond market.

The proposed T. Rowe Price Emerging Markets Blue Economy Bond Strategy is expected to mobilize international capital from eligible investors to support blue-labeled investments in global emerging markets through blue bonds issued by financial institutions and real sector companies. 

“The investor capital deployed into blue bonds through T. Rowe Price Blue will make a vital contribution to furthering a blue economy,” Makhtar Diop, the IFC’s managing director, said in a statement. 

First offered as bonds in 2018, ‘blue’ investments seek to provide competitive returns while supporting the health of the world’s oceans and water resources, which are vital for sustainable global development, especially in the face of climate change, overfishing and pollution, the firms wrote in the announcement. According to the statement, momentum is growing for blue finance, with interest from both investors and issuers in blue bonds and loans that fund ocean-friendly projects and safeguard clean water resources.

Alto, Farmland LP Announce Partnership to Broaden Access to Alternative Investments

Alto Solutions Inc., a platform that enables individuals to invest in alternative assets using their retirement funds, announced an expanded partnership with Farmland LP, one of the largest fund managers specializing in organic farmland.

Farmland LP is making its Vital Farmland Fund III available on the Alto Marketplace, allowing accredited investors to invest in a real asset-managed farmland fund.

“We’re pleased to partner with Farmland LP to further enhance our range of fund offerings in unique and specialized segments of alternative investments, catering to the needs of accredited investors,” Scott Harrigan, CEO of Alto Securities, said in a statement. “This partnership will offer accredited investors an opportunity to invest in a fund that is typically not accessible to retail investors, diversifying their portfolios into a largely uncorrelated asset class to the public markets.”

Vital Farmland Fund III, a 506(c) Regulation D offering, is focused on acquiring and converting conventional, chemical-based farms through conversion to organic and regenerative agriculture. The fund seeks to generate returns for investors while promoting sustainability.

Farmland LP, as a farmland investment management firm, has successfully acquired and managed more than 16,000 acres of farmland in Northern California, Oregon and Washington, amassing a portfolio exceeding $275 million in farmland assets over the last 14 years, according to the company.