Products October 12, 2010

BrightScope Unveils "BrightScope Beacon"

BrightScope announced the launch of BrightScope Beacon, a fund-focused analytics software product designed to help defined contribution investment-only firms better understand the distribution of their funds within 401(k) plans.
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According to a news release, Beacon enables more precise distribution strategy and resource allocation, helps identify strengths and weaknesses in a fund company’s product set, and uncovers hidden opportunities for growth. 

For all of its products, BrightScope obtains its data directly, either from plan sponsors, or from publicly available sources ranging from The United States Department of Labor (DOL) to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Additionally, BrightScope receives investment data from Xignite.  

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“Beacon brings higher quality data and analytics to the competitive 401k fund distribution market,” said Ryan Alfred, Co-Founder, President, and Head of Product at BrightScope.  “Previously investment managers have operated with an incomplete view of their distribution, limiting them to simple, undifferentiated distribution strategies. Beacon helps managers use plan level market intelligence to drive strategic firm level decision-making and create meaningful, measurable opportunities for their sales force.”  

Deals & People October 11, 2010

GFWM Hires SVP of Business and Channel Development

Genworth Financial Wealth Management (GFWM), a subsidiary of Genworth Financial, has hired Michael Kim as senior vice president of business and channel development.
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Kim will head a new department to support those advisers servicing high-net worth investors. These include Genworth’s core market of independent broker/dealer advisers, as well as registered investment advisers. 

Reporting directly to GFWM President Gurinder Ahluwalia and serving on the executive management team, Kim will be responsible for the development of enhanced products and services, with the goal of helping advisers increase their assets under management (AUM) and serve high-net worth investors.

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Kim was most recently senior vice president at Fidelity Institutional Wealth Services, where he was responsible for functions including sales management, relationship management, and practice management. Kim started his financial services career at Coopers & Lybrand, LLC, a national public accounting firm, where he specialized in providing audit and consulting services to investment advisers, broker/dealers and mutual fund companies.

 

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