Product & Service Launches – 6/6/24

Financial Advisers Given Access to J.P. Morgan Everyday 401(k) Via Vestwell

J.P. Morgan Asset Management’s Everyday 401(k) geared toward small businesses is available to financial advisers via an expanded partnership with Vestwell, according to an announcement from the two firms.

With the partnership, Vestwell will jointly distribute access to J.P. Morgan’s workplace savings program to financial advisers to serve as 3(38) investment managers on workplace plans.

Firm’s can use the service as a white-labeled offering and have access to Vestwell’s other plan services, pricing and employer engagement tools. Vestwell also offers ongoing administration and maintenance of the plans, according to the announcement.

“Vestwell’s strategic partnership with J.P. Morgan Asset Management signals the industry’s emphasis on expanding access to premier workplace savings solutions,” Vestwell founder and CEO, Aaron Schumm, said in a statement. “This news illustrates our ongoing commitment to serving the financial adviser community while amplifying the reach of our partners.”

The expanded partnership comes about one year after the firms announced a partnership for J.P. Morgan to offer the small business 401(k) plan via Vestwell’s platform.

Vanguard Makes Changes to Vanguard Explorer Value Fund

Vanguard has made changes to the investment advisory arrangements of its Vanguard Explorer Value Fund with Wellington Management Company LLP joining the fund as adviser alongside existing advisers Frontier Capital Management LLC and Ariel Investments LLC.

Ariel and Wellington Management will manage the portion of the fund formerly advised by Cardinal Capital Management L.L.C., which will no longer serve as an advisor to the fund, Vanguard announced.

Vanguard’s manager research team made the change during regular reviews for the $978 million fund. The investment advisory breakdown is now: Frontier, 45%, Wellington Management, 27.5%, and Ariel 27.5%.

The firm expects an expense ratio increase from .49% to .53% with the changes, remaining in the “lowest-cost quartile of its peer group,” according to the asset manager.

Mercer Advisors Makes Institutional-Grade Private Markets Investing Available to Individual Clients

Mercer Advisors has expanded its private markets offering individual clients with the launch of the Aspen Partners platform.

Aspen Partners is a private markets platform designed to give individual investors access to institutional-grade private market investments. Only qualified Mercer Advisors clients will have access to the portfolio.

The firm noted that the trending universe of privately held assets is “significantly larger than public markets, and features many of the world’s fastest-growing companies, large swaths of the credit markets, and many other interesting opportunities.” Even so, the firm noted in the announcement, many investors and registered investment advisers find it difficult to access the market in a scalable way for investors.

“For years, the world’s leading institutional investors have benefited from incorporating well-diversified private investments into their portfolios,” Daniel Gourvitch, president at Mercer Advisors, said in a statement. “Too often, individuals offered ‘unique access’ to private investments end up paying high fees, invest too narrowly, and miss out on many of the better opportunities in private markets.”

The firm noted Aspen Partners fiduciary commitment to investors along with plans to launch “several” private funds in the future. Mercer partnered with Opto Investments to create the platform.

OneVest to Offer Vanguard Suite of Low-Cost ETF Model Portfolios

OneVest is expanding its model portfolio offerings with Vanguard’s suite of exchange traded funds.

OneVest’s Model Portfolio Marketplace will now include Vanguard’s “low-cost and high-quality ETF” suite as part of a professionally managed, diversified and “potentially” tax-efficient investing strategy.

“By incorporating Vanguard’s ETFs into our Model Portfolio Marketplace, we are empowering our enterprise customers with the ability to offer institutional-grade investment solutions,” Amar Ahluwalia, CEO of OneVest, said in a statement.

The firm’s Model Marketplace is integrated into OneVest’s customizable wealth management platform to allow for investment personalization across segments and enterprise channels, according to the firm.