Deals & People November 21, 2014

Callan Adopts Pension Risk Analytics Solution

Callan Associates will use RiskFirst’s risk analytics platform, PFaroe, to help institutional investors conduct asset allocation and asset/liability studies.
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Callan’s capital markets research group will leverage PFaroe, a real-time analytics and reporting platform, to help plan sponsors with their strategic planning, asset allocation and asset/liability studies, aiding the implementation of effective investment strategies and de-risking solutions, such as flight plans. 

More and more clients are implementing de-risking flight plans, raising the importance of analytics to monitor funded status and decide when to execute changes in strategy, notes Jay Kloepfer, executive vice president and director of capital market and alternatives research at Callan. “We view PFaroe as a major step forward in the analytics we can offer, allowing us to perform more frequent and deeper simulation modelling, so that we have a real handle on clients’ risk positions,” he says.

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The breadth and depth of the platform’s analytics will allow Callan’s clients to grasp the true enterprise-wide impact of their pension plans, Kloepfer says, adding that PFaroe is nimble enough to capture some of the more interesting aspects of capital market quirks that the firm wants to simulate.

PFaroe will be used in conjunction with Winklevoss Technologies’ (WinTech) liability valuation software, ProVal, which Callan has used since 1995. RiskFirst formed a strategic partnership with WinTech in 2013.

Callan is an investment consulting firm with nearly $2 trillion in total client assets under advisement. More information is at www.callan.com.

Products November 21, 2014

Cetera Financial Group Expands Support for Top Advisers

Cetera Financial Group introduced the Advanced Planning Group, a specialist support team equipping the firm's top advisers with advanced legal, tax, accounting and insurance resources.
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The services are provided to top-tier advisers across Cetera’s network, the firm says, representing approximately 10% of all its affiliated advisers. Cetera says the Advanced Planning Group provides these advisers with the ability to meet the increasingly complicated demands involved in developing tax, wealth transfer, estate planning, and wealth preservation strategies for clients and their families.

“More than ever, independent financial advisers are dealing with complex wealth management issues, as high-net-worth clients seek effective strategies to maximize and transfer their wealth in a landscape of ever-changing tax laws and regulations,” says Steve Dunlap, executive vice president, wealth management, Cetera Financial Group. “With the support of the highly experienced Advanced Planning Group, advisers will be better equipped to address a wide array of client financial planning needs, ranging from complex tax deferral strategies and employer stock option analyses to intergenerational asset transfers.”

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The in-house consulting team is comprised of legal and tax professionals who additionally provide advisers with updates and interpretations regarding emerging legislation and tax code changes that will affect advisers and their clients. The Advanced Planning Group does not provide advisers with operational advice or portfolio management counsel.

More information on Cetera Financial Group is available here.

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