Products September 21, 2017

Fi360 Enhances Fiduciary Toolkit with Prospecting Feature

The new business-development capability allows advisers to illustrate how certain changes could benefit a prospective client’s portfolio.

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Fi360, a provider of fiduciary-focused services, has updated its Fiduciary Focus Toolkit with a prospecting feature which allows advisers to compile comprehensive reporting demonstrating a prospective client’s past with recommended holdings. The update can help advisers illustrate how certain changes may improve investment performance.

Originally released in October 2016, the Toolkit is designed to automate fiduciary-related workflow and oversight in order for advisers and broker dealers to ensure they are remaining compliant with evolving laws. This task will likely be further complicated by the implementation of the industry-shaking fiduciary rule being rolled out by the Department of Labor (DOL).

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Features of the Toolkit include an interactive dashboard and investment monitoring capabilities via The Fi360 Fiduciary Score. The solution also allows advisers to develop alerts and criteria for a customizable watch-list. They can also document investment policy statements to streamline reporting. The firm says it also allows the home office to detect whether advisers are adhering to fiduciary standards.

Fi360 notes, “The Toolkit is exclusively fiduciary-focused, allowing financial professionals to easily and efficiently comply with prudent practices and reduce their liability related to fiduciary obligations.”

In light of the Fiduciary Rule’s complexity, several firms such have released tools allowing advisers to leverage technology to remain compliant.

For more information about the Fiduciary Focus Toolkit, visit fi360.com. 

Products September 21, 2017

Wagner Aims to Fill Void Left by DLP

With the determination letter program gone, Wagner Law Group is helping plan sponsors remain compliant with the IRS.
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Following the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS)’s elimination of its determination letter program for tax-qualified retirement plans, The Wagner Law Group developed its Private Determination Letter Program (PDLP) to assist plan sponsors.

For decades, the IRS’s letter guided sponsors and helped them make sure they met tax-qualification requirements as the laws and regulations governing tax-qualified plans changed. The PDLP aims to address plan sponsors’ concerns that their plan documents remain compliant with the law as it evolves.

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The Wagner Law Group notes that several document providers have announced they will no longer maintain custom plan documents, including their own. Such providers will cease offering operational, statutory and/or regulatory amendments for the plan documents they previously maintained.

The Wagner Law Group says its attorneys can prepare legally-compliant plan documents and appropriate amendments to reflect applicable changes to the law. The firm can also review plans under the PDLP and confirm that design changes made to a plan meet all requirements under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), the firm says.

The Wagner Law Group extends these services to plan sponsors including for-profit, tax-exempt and government entities who administrate 401(k) plans, profit sharing plans, defined benefit (DB) pension plans, money purchase pension plans, cash balance plans and employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs).

Since the determination letter program was abandoned, several firms including Trucker Huss and Groom Law Group have offered support. Still, there are several points plan sponsors should consider when deciding what to do in the absence of determination letters.

For more information concerning The Wagner Law Group’s qualified plan services, visit www.wagnerlawgroup.com.

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