Deals & People December 9, 2014

Ascensus Partners with 1st Global

Retirement and college savings plan provider Ascensus announced a new distribution partnership with 1st Global.
Reported by

Through this new distribution relationship, Ascensus says it now serves as a retirement plan services partner for the “only independent wealth management services provider focused on specially selected CPA and estate planning firms.”

1st Global chose to partner with Ascensus based on the company’s ability to provide flexible retirement solutions, the firm notes. Through Ascensus, a fee-based, open-architecture service model is now available for 1st Global’s network of more than 1,000 financial professionals. This can include full service or recordkeeping-only arrangements for Employee Retirement Income Security Act 401(k) and 403(b) retirement plans.

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“Ascensus is an adviser-centric company whose proven success in the retirement plan industry is matched with a strong platform,” says Jeff Magson, vice president of sales and platforms at 1st Global. “Partnering with a leader in the defined contribution market and a trusted partner for thousands of companies is a clear win for our existing and future small business clients.”

Michael Narkoff, executive vice president of sales at Ascensus, says the firm looks forward to collaborating with 1st Global advisers to help grow their practices.

More information is available at www.ascensus.com and www.1stGlobal.com.

Products December 9, 2014

Northern Trust Enhances Risk Reporting for Pensions

RiskFirst’s web-based platform, PFaroe, has been integrated with Northern Trust’s global operating platform.
Reported by

Northern Trust has enhanced its suite of asset-liability reporting solutions, enabling pension funds to gain deeper insights into their risk exposure with a cross-balance sheet view of their assets and liabilities.

The analytics will be provided from RiskFirst’s web-based platform, PFaroe, and integrated with Northern Trust’s global operating platform. Northern Trust’s pension fund clients can monitor and evaluate a portfolio’s risk and performance by profiling assets and liabilities in the same framework, helping facilitate investment decisions. 

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RiskFirst is a financial technology business that provides risk analytics and reporting. Its core product PFaroe is web-based and allows users to evaluate risk from multiple perspectives and to perform real-time scenario stress testing.

“Pension funds are increasingly looking for tools that enable them to view their assets and liabilities holistically, rather than in isolation,” says Ian Castledine, global head of investment risk and compliance product at Northern Trust. “Our enhanced solution adds significant granularity to our liability modelling capabilities, enabling our clients to have a far better understanding of their asset-liability position.”

Northern Trust’s integrated risk management platform provides operational support to include data loading, daily position maintenance and asset modelling alongside secure data storage, a reporting portal and a global team of investment risk consultants.

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