Deals & People March 17, 2023

Retirement Industry People Moves

Franklin Templeton appoints Dean R. Sackett III to managing director of government affairs; Hall Benefits Law adds Alex Bruckner; National Association of Investment Companies announces Felina Martin as director of programs & initiatives; and more.

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Felina Martin Joins the National Association of Investment Companies

Felina Martin

The National Association of Investment Companies has announced Felina Martin as director of programs & initiatives.

In her role, Martin will provide leadership and direction for NAIC’s programmatic content. Martin will lead a slate of programs, including Women in Alternatives: In, Up, and Beyond, (NextGen) Establishing the Next Generation of Alternative Investment Firms Symposium, LP Meetup, ENGAGE, and Institutional Investor Roadshows.

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“My experience in program design, strategic planning, innovation and entrepreneurship will help build on the existing 50 years of success that NAIC has in impacting its members,”  Martin said in a statement. “I am particularly excited about closing the knowledge gap for diverse entrepreneurs to secure capital from private investors and increasing the number of diverse women entering the alternative investment sector.”

Hub International Names Todd Peterson Canadian National Private Client Practice Leader

Todd Peterson

Hub International Limited announced Todd Peterson, a former financial services executive, has joined HUB as the national private client practice leader for Canada.

Peterson will be responsible for enhancing HUB’s services for affluent individuals and family clients across Canada. He will focus on elevating the practice’s capabilities with investments in products, client experience, marketing, and technology. 

“Adding specialists such as Todd will further strengthen the foundation of our services to continue to help these clients,” said Tina Osen, president of HUB Canada, in a statement.

Global Atlantic Appoints Emily LeMay to Chief Operations Officer

Emily LeMay

Global Atlantic Financial Group announced that Emily LeMay as chief operations officer.

She will oversee all aspects of the company’s individual markets operations, customer experience and analytics, enterprise project management office, underwriting and strategic sourcing.

“It’s a privilege to lead a talented team that is committed to serving our clients and helping them achieve their ultimate financial goals,” said LeMay in a statement. “We’re focused on delivering a modern, client-centric experience, and I look forward to executing our strategy.”

Prior to her promotion, LeMay led strategy execution and analytics for individual markets. She joined Global Atlantic in 2017 as a vice president leading TPA Management.

Annie Messer Joins Pension Resource Institute and Group Plan Systems

Annie Messer

The Pension Resource Institute LLC has added Annie Messer as president, member relations.

As the head of member relations, she will focus her efforts on enhancing the PRI member experience.

“I am honored to have the opportunity to join a team with such highly respected expertise in retirement plans,” Messer said in a statement. “I hope to employ my prior experience working with retirement plan advisors to benefit PRI members.” 

Messer will also serve in a client-facing role at Group Plan Systems, a joint venture owned equally by PRI and Waypoint Fiduciary, LLC. GPS is an independent, operational fiduciary serving as pooled plan provider over pooled employer plans.

Franklin Templeton Appoints Dean R. Sackett III to Managing Director of Government Affairs

Franklin Templeton announced the appointment of Dean R. Sackett III as managing director of government affairs.

In this newly created role, Sackett will represent the firms’ specialist investment managers on a variety of U.S. policy matters. He will report to Paul Elmlinger, deputy general counsel and global head of public policy.

“Many important legislative and regulatory measures are currently being considered in the U.S. in areas including retirement savings, the democratization of investor access to alternative investments, sustainability issues, cybersecurity risk management and crypto and digital assets,” Sackett said in a statement. “I look forward to working with the experienced team at Franklin Templeton to ensure that our investors, including U.S. retirees, are given a strong voice on policy matters that impact their investments and financial well-being.”

Hall Benefits Law Adds ERISA Attorney Alex Bruckner

Boutique ERISA law firm Hall Benefits Law welcomed attorney Alex Brucker to the firm..

In addition to ERISA legal compliance work, Brucker will act as counsel and co-counsel in
ERISA and tax litigation. He has been an expert witness in ERISA and retirement and
welfare plan cases in both Federal and State Courts.

“We look forward to a long relationship with Alex and more opportunities to provide proactive, strategic ERISA counsel for our clients across the country,” said HBL managing partner Anne Tyler Hall in a statement.

Lincoln Financial Group Names Heather Deichler as Head of Group Benefit Product and Underwriting

Lincoln Financial Group announced that Heather Deichler has been named senior vice president, group benefit product and underwriting within the company’s workplace solutions business.

Deichler will drive the strategic direction of product, underwriting and business development, while overseeing profit and loss management.

“Heather is a strong addition to our already talented Group Benefits team, as she brings a wealth of experience with product pricing, development, underwriting and operations.” said James Reid, president of Workplace Solutions, in a statement.

Deichler  was most recently head of MoneyGuard Business Management, leading product development, pricing, underwriting and management for Lincoln’s MoneyGuard solutions. She has been with Lincoln Financial since 2019.

Compliance March 17, 2023

Complying With the Custody Rule and the New Custody Proposal

Experts explained common compliance mistakes involving the custody rule and spoke to the new custody rule proposal.

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Compliance experts and officials from the Securities and Exchange Commission warned advisers that the SEC’s custody rule may apply even if an adviser does not intend to use it or is not aware of it.

Mukya Porter, the chief compliance officer at CIM Group, explained at the Investment Adviser Association’s Adviser Compliance Conference that anything in a client contract that grants “power of attorney” can bestow the obligations of the custody rule on an adviser.

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Among other things, the custody rule requires advisers to ensure assets in their custody are kept with a certified custodian and that the adviser submit to annual surprise SEC exams to verify the existence of those assets.

Natasha Greiner, a national associate director of the investment company examination program at the SEC, said the issues highlighted in a 2017 risk alert are still applicable today. The risk alert said that online access to a client’s assets, power of attorney or authorization to withdraw funds as payment can all impose custody obligations, but that many advisers examined by the SEC were unaware of this.

The alert also said many advisers who pay outside consultants to conduct a surprise exam are not actually surprised at all, because the exams had been planned or always happen on the same day each year but are presented as a “surprise” in the adviser’s compliance policies. In other cases, the third-party audits did not include a complete accounting of all of the assets in an adviser’s custody.

SEC regulatory guidance issued the same year also said advisers can become an unintentional custodian due to wording in their client agreements. Whenever an adviser can withdraw or transfer funds, it is considered a custodian, even if it has never actually used that power or intended to.

On February 15, the SEC proposed a new rule for adviser custody that would apply to all assets over which an adviser might acquire custody. The new rule requires that an adviser clearly segregate its assets from client assets so that the client’s assets are safe in the event that the adviser declares bankruptcy. These two provisions interact in an important way, because they prevent advisers from comingling their assets with their clients’ in previously uncovered asset classes, such as cryptocurrencies, which can leave investors stuck if their adviser goes bankrupt.

The new rule would also apply to agreements in which an adviser has discretionary trading authority, the ability to buy and sell clients’ assets without receiving client permission on a trade-by-trade basis.

William Birdthistle, the director for the investment management division at the SEC which drafted the new custody rule proposal, was especially enthusiastic about the provision that would apply custodial obligations onto discretionary trading agreements. He told the audience at the IAA Compliance Conference that “discretionary trading can create problems,” and updating the rule to include it is critical. It is unclear how this or other elements of the latest SEC custody proposal will end up in the final version of the rule.

The comment period for the new custody rule expires May 8, and directions on how to submit a comment can be found here.

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