Products October 6, 2010

BofA Merrill Lynch Produces Toolkit for Advisers

A 25-piece kit from Bank of America (BofA) Merrill Lynch is designed to help financial advisers deliver flexible retirement and benefit plan services to corporate clients.
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The tools in the Plan Relationship Excellence Program (PREP) are separated into three categories: plan support, fiduciary fundamentals, and employee communications.   

Plan Suppport includes materials advisers can use when they are still helping clients design a plan and implement it, such as the “Defined Contribution Plan Implementation Guide.”  This provides a timeline and checklist of the steps they need to take. Once a plan is implemented, tools such as the “Plan in Review Guide” help financial advisers conduct periodic plan assessments.

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Fiduciary Fundamentals resources can be used to teach clients about their fiduciary obligations as outlined in ERISA, including  a compliance checklist, a guide to investment menu construction and fund selection, and a white paper that provides a detailed explanation of plan policies, fees, and other considerations for plan sponsors and fiduciaries. 

And the Employee Communications tools can be used by the employer, in conjunction with the adviser, to help educate employees and boost participation rates.   

“The program enables our advisers to equip employers with the tools and guidelines they need to more effectively manage their plans and help their employees prepare for retirement with greater confidence,” said Steve Ulian, Head of Institutional Retirement & Benefit Solutions for Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

PREP builds upon the success of Retirement Plan Advisor Services (RPAS), a practice model and suite of resources and fiduciary tools introduced earlier this year to help Merrill Lynch advisers deliver value-added services to small-business retirement plan clients.  Both PREP and RPAS are programs that were developed as a result of the financial adviser designations introduced in December 2009/January 2010 (see “BofA Merrill Introduces Retirement Plan Adviser Designation“). During the next few months, Bank of America Merrill Lynch said it plans to introduce an enhanced service model for financial advisers working with corporate benefit plan sponsors in the large and mega markets. 

 

Deals & People October 6, 2010

DWS Investments Hires Nine Executives

The new hires will be working in several departments, including offshore distribution, broker/dealer services, registered investment adviser (RIA) channels, and financial adviser division (FAD).
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Jeffrey Diamond will serve as Director, Senior National Account Manager & Head of U.S. Offshore Distribution. He will be responsible for the UBS firm relationship within the broker/dealer channel and will also focus on building DWS Investments’ offshore business within the U.S. He will be based in New Jersey and will report to Michael Woods, a Managing Director, CEO and U.S. Head of Distribution for DWS Investments Distributors Inc.

Before joining the DWS team, Diamond worked for UBS, as Executive Director in National Accounts, responsible for building UBS Global Asset Management’s offshore distribution business within the Americas. He also served as an Account Manager at UBS Global Asset Management, responsible for growing the sub-advisory and third-party distribution business.

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Other hires announced by DWS include the following individuals reporting to Benjamin LeFevre, Director, Divisional Sales Manager:

  • Michael Maddox joins as a regional vice president (RVP) in the RIA channel, formally a VP at Evergreen Investments;
  • Angelo Pirri joins as a RVP in the RIA channel, formerly a VP at Julius Baer Investment Management;
  • Michael Fredrick joins as a RVP in the RIA and FAD channels, formally a RVP at Columbia Management & Riversource Investments;
  • Douglas Macomber joins as RVP in the RIA and FAD channels, formally a RVP at Van Kampen Investments.

Reporting to Richard Kozlowski, Divisional Director, Broker Dealer Division are

  • Chad Stone, RVP in the B/D channel, formally a RVP at The Hartford
  • Neil Rothman, RVP in the BD channel, formally a RVP at Lord Abbott
  • Richard Kline, RVP in the BD channel, formally a RVP at Delaware Investments.

Additionally, Thomas Wagner joins as a VP and a National Accounts Manager in the RIA and Independent channels, formally a VP at Fidelity Investments. Tom will report to Nicole Grogan, a Senior National Accounts Manager, RIA and Independent channels.

“We are delighted to welcome such a diverse group of talented Vice Presidents and Regional Vice Presidents to DWS Investments,” added Woods. “Recruiting and retaining top producing talent remains central to meeting our immediate and long term client goals.

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