Products April 15, 2008

UBS Introduces New Fee-Based Adviser DC Offering

UBS Wealth Management Americas has launched its DC Advisory service.
Reported by

The offering is a fee-based program allowing UBS Financial Advisers who focus on retirement plans to provide advisory and investment fiduciary services to defined contribution plans.

DC Advisory focuses on three primary needs of DC plan sponsors:

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  • investment consulting,
  • employee education consulting, and
  • program provider search consulting.

“With the increasing focus on fee transparency and fiduciary responsibilities, fee-based plan service arrangements are growing in demand,” said Melissa Cowan, DC Advisory Program Manager, in a company announcement.

Deals & People April 15, 2008

Vanguard Adds Adviser to Two Equity Funds

Vanguard has added Baillie Gifford Overseas Ltd. as an adviser to two different equity funds.
Reported by

Baillie Gifford joins current Vanguard Global Equity Fund advisers Acadian Asset Management, AllianceBernstein L.P., and Marathon Asset Management LLP in the $6.9 billion fund (ticker: VHGEX). Baillie Gifford teams with Turner Investment Partners in the management of the $980 million Vanguard Growth Equity Fund (ticker: VGEQX).

Other Portfolios

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Baillie Gifford has advised portions of the $18.4 billion Vanguard International Growth Fund (VWIGX) and the $1.9 billion International Portfolio of the Vanguard Variable Insurance Fund (VVIF) since 2003. According to a Vanguard press release, Baillie Gifford employs a long-term oriented, valuation-sensitive growth philosophy. Its bottom-up approach seeks high-quality companies whose earnings and cash flows increase faster than the market.

Baillie Gifford’s U.S. investment team, which will manage assets in the Growth Equity Fund, is led by Mick Brewis, a partner and member of the Investment Policy Committee who has been with the firm since 1985. The team that will manage Baillie Gifford’s portion of the Global Equity Fund is led by Charles Plowden, a joint senior partner and chief of investment staff who has been with Baillie Gifford since 1983. Both teams work out of Baillie Gifford’s Edinburgh, Scotland, headquarters.

Baillie Gifford is among the largest independently owned investment management firms in the United Kingdom. Organized as a partnership with 100% ownership disbursed among 30 active partners, Baillie Gifford has approximately U.S. $110 billion in assets under management in global equity, EAFE and balanced mandates. Approximately U.S. $12 billion of that is in U.S. assets, including U.S. portions of global products.

Fourteen of Vanguard’s actively managed stock funds are multimanaged. Vanguard has relationships with 24 external advisory firms from around the world that manage approximately $357 billion. Vanguard manages nearly $1.25 trillion in U.S. mutual fund assets, including more than $392 billion in employer-sponsored retirement plans.

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