Products May 17, 2012

Envestnet/Tamarac Is Selected Participant in Schwab Intelligent Integration

 

Tamarac, a division of Envestnet Inc., will participate in Schwab Intelligent Integration, according to Schwab Advisor Services.

 

 

Reported by

The integration, part of the initiative to integrate with platforms that serve independent investment advisers, will allow for real-time custody data from Schwab Advisor Services to be available within the Tamarac Xi Web-based platforms, Advisor CRM and Advisor View.

“This marks another important milestone in our effort to work with platforms to provide high-quality integrations that have a meaningful impact on the work that independent investment advisers do,” said Neesha Hathi, vice president of technology solutions for Schwab Advisor Services. 

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According to Stuart DePina, group president of Envestnet/Tamarac, the integration of Tamarac Advisor CRM and the company’s performance reporting, portal and billing application with Schwab Intelligent Integration is “a perfect complement” of customer and portfolio management, and custodial technologies. “Advisers using the solution will see dramatic gains in their ability to service their clients and scale their businesses more profitably,” he said.

As part of its platform, Tamarac employs a customized version of Microsoft Dynamics CRM, and will be the second provider using this program to become part of Schwab Intelligent Integration. The first, Salentica, is currently in beta and is expected to enter a pilot program this summer.

Schwab announced general availability of twoother integrations with leading CRM providers in February.

More information is available at Envestnet and at Envestnet/Tamarac. 

 

Compliance May 17, 2012

Fiduciary Liability Continues After Company Closing

Some retirement plan sponsors mistakenly believe their fiduciary liability ended when the company doors closed.
Reported by

An article from Lockton Retirement Services explains that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) was enacted to compel high standards of fiduciary duties with respect to the protection of employee benefit plans. Likewise, the Bankruptcy Code (the Code) was intended to protect those who have been injured by the debtor’s wrongful acts, known as defalcation. When a fiduciary seeks to discharge a defalcated plan debt in a bankruptcy, both the Code and ERISA have been violated. 

“Defalcation for purposes of ERISA covered plans includes misappropriation of plan assets, the failure to forward employee contributions and the stopping of only the fiduciary’s contributions while continuing others,” Samuel Henson, J.D, senior ERISA counsel at Lockton, wrote in the article.  

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Where the Department of Labor (DOL) has determined that evidence of defalcation exists, it can file an adversary complaint to establish the non-dischargeability of the retirement plan’s debt under Code §523(a)(4). In addition, the DOL may file a proof of claim on behalf of the plan pursuant to ERISA §502(a), seeking to have the plan debt classified as a priority unsecured claim, according to Henson. 

Assuming the DOL succeeds in discharging the plan’s debt, it will then seek to collect that debt. In those situations where the employer has assets not subject to secured creditors, the DOL may be able to recover monies owed to the retirement plan. However, in those situations in which the employer has no assets and has closed its doors, the DOL may pursue a fiduciary personally under ERISA §409.  

To read the full article, go to http://www.lockton.com/Resource_/PageResource/MKT/personal_fiduciary_keyQ2.pdf.

 

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