Products August 30, 2011

401kDIRECT and Summit Trust Develop MEP

401kDIRECT and Summit Trust Company are introducing the DIRECT Multiple Employer Plan (MEP), for plan sponsors who want the benefits of a MEP while maintaining control over plan design and investments.  
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The DIRECT MEP is a qualified 401(k) plan that allows unaffiliated employers to reduce costs and fiduciary liability by participating together in a single plan, according to 401kDIRECT.

By offering clients the option of participating in a MEP, third-party administrators (TPAs) and investment advisers can help them minimize the liability of running a plan and reduce administrative costs by delegating the Plan Sponsor and Trustee Responsibilities to Summit Trust Company. Under the MEP, individual employers do not file Form 5500 or perform annual audits; these functions are taken care of at the plan level.

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401kDIRECT provides daily valuation recordkeeping for the DIRECT MEP while administration and compliance is handled by local TPAs. 401kDIRECT says its MEP is different from other MEPs because it gives local TPAs the opportunity to provide their expertise in plan design and compliance to each adopting employer.

Registered investment advisers (RIAs) are able to offer the plan to their clients acting as a 3(38) or 3(21) investment manager as defined under ERISA. They have access to hundreds of mutual funds and ETFs to customize the plan investment menu to meet the needs of their clients.

For more information on the program visit www.401k-direct.com, or call 800-571-5104, ext. 2.

Products August 30, 2011

Northern Trust Enhances Investment Risk and Analytical Tools

Northern Trust has enhanced the client experience for users of its Investment Risk and Analytical Services (IRAS) tools on Passport, its multi-faceted Web portal. 
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Designed to provide clients with better access to the risk and analytical tools for making investment decisions, the upgraded IRAS Dashboard has more customizable features, faster performance, and integration of both ex-post analytics and ex-ante risk services, Northern Trust reports.

Features of the new IRAS Dashboard design include: 

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  • Customizable charts and tables 
  • Selection of any portfolio or index/benchmark data and combinations for any daily or monthly time period 
  • More than 200 statistics / characteristics / metrics available in ex post and ex ante views 
  • The ability for clients to tailor their view of portfolio data to extract vital information 

The IRAS Dashboard allows clients to select from hundreds of industry measurements of daily and monthly portfolio performance, attribution, risk measures, and key characteristics utilizing the available chart and table templates. In addition to presentation of this data in the client’s desired format, the Dashboard provides access to in-depth analysis that examines portfolio or index data in an absolute or benchmark-relative form to the security level.   

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