Product Partnership – 5/15/24

Envestnet and Salesforce announce collaboration; Pontera and Stifel help 401(k) participants pursue retirement goals; Kashable and BrightDime launch partnership to enhance financial wellness.

Envestnet and Salesforce Announce Collaboration

Envestnet and Salesforce announced a partnership to deliver a financial planning experience for Envestnet customers using Salesforce’s financial services cloud.

“Our partnership with Envestnet is driven by a shared goal: to deliver innovative solutions that streamline the financial planning process and empower wealth advisers to be more productive,” Eran Agrios, senior vice president and general manager of financial services at Salesforce, said in a statement.

Never miss a story — sign up for PLANADVISER newsletters to keep up on the latest retirement plan adviser news.

Advisers and financial services professionals in the United States will include the ability to: 

  • View financial plan information for clients within their CRM platform.
  • Target and track clients by where they are in their planning journey using actionable segmentation dashboards.
  • Launch into Envestnet’s MoneyGuide, which offers financial planning capabilities.
  • Unify customer behavioral and financial data across an adviser’s practice.
  • Simplify adviser team collaboration with a single source for all financial planning-related activities.

“Dashboard views provide an adviser insight into their entire book of business,” Matt Wilson, head of MoneyGuide sales at Envestnet, said in a statement. “By easily segmenting those clients approaching retirement, for example, an adviser can proactively identify new account and rollover opportunities, income strategies or potential tax planning strategies.”

Pontera and Stifel Help 401(k) Participants Pursue Retirement Goals

Pontera announced the launch of a partnership with Stifel Financial Corporation, a full-service brokerage and investment banking firm operating across the United States and abroad.

With this collaboration, more than 2,400 Stifel advisers will be able to securely manage 401(k)s for over 200,000 clients through the Pontera platform as part of a personalized, comprehensive wealth management plan.

“When clients turn to their adviser for investment advice, they’re looking for help managing all of their assets — not just some,” Ron Kruszewski, chairman and chief executive of Stifel, said in a statement. “We’re thrilled to collaborate with Pontera and help our advisers answer this call for help by giving them tools to securely and efficiently manage their clients’ workplace retirement accounts.”

Kruszewski noted Pontera’s platform will be integrated with Stifel’s tech stack: Addepar, for holistic performance reporting; Salesforce CRM, for streamlined client-account visibility; and Stifel’s WealthTracker solution.

Kashable and BrightDime Launch Partnership to Enhance Financial Wellness

Kashable, a fintech platform offering financial wellness solutions as an employer-sponsored voluntary benefit, and BrightDime, which provides a view of an individuals’ holistic financial picture, have announced a partnership.

This partnership aims to provide access to personalized financial coaching and money management tools. At inception, the program will be implemented across 50 companies, including IKEA, Chobani and Nasdaq, covering over 170,000 employees.

Beginning May 14, employees with access to Kashable’s financial wellness program will also have access to free financial coaching sessions and other educational resources from BrightDime.

“By investing in financial coaching tools for their employees, employers are not just enhancing individual financial well-being; they’re building a more resilient, productive, and engaged workforce,” Einat Steklov, co-CEO and co-founder of Kashable, said in a statement. “This partnership showcases the ability of employers to support employees who are struggling with debt, lack of emergency funds and are managing unanticipated high inflation rates.”

Correction: Fixes start date for Kashable and BrightDime launch.

Legislation Introduced That Would Reverse Retirement Security Rule

The Congressional Review Act resolution is unlikely to survive a presidential veto.

Members of the House and Senate introduced companion bills under the Congressional Review Act that would nullify the Department of Labor’s Retirement Security Rule.

The rule was finalized in April and would subject one-time transactions such as annuity sales and rollovers to fiduciary obligations under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

Want the latest retirement plan adviser news and insights? Sign up for PLANADVISER newsletters.

The CRA bills would render the rule with “no force or effect,” if passed. It is sponsored by Senators Ted Budd, R-North Carolina, Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana, and Roger Marshall, R-Kansas; and Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia, in the Senate. The House version is sponsored by Representatives Rick Allen, R-Georgia and Education and the Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx, R-North Carolina.

A joint statement from the bills’ sponsors says the rule “threatens to gut a wide range of financial tools that many of the largest financial planning and wealth management firms currently offer consumers, including basic financial education and investment planning courses, life insurance, annuity plans, and other financial instruments.”

The final rule specifically and explicitly clarifies that educational and related communications are not covered by its provisions.

It states: “The mere provision of investment information or education, without an investment recommendation, is not advice within the meaning of the rule.”

If the bill were to pass the Republican-controlled House and Democrat-controlled Senate, it is all but certain to be vetoed by President Joe Biden.

The legislation has been endorsed by the Insured Retirement Institute and American Securities Association.

 

«