Products March 9, 2012

IRAmarket.com Teams with WMSI for Rollover Solution

IRAmarket.com launched a service to help reduce the paperwork for 401(k) rollovers to IRAs.
Reported by

The service helps users complete new account applications using a secure online process. The features are powered by Wealth Management Systems Inc. (WMSI). 

A number of WMSI’s top partners will initially be available on IRAmarket.com, and more WMSI clients will be added in the near future.  

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WMSI provides a technology platform linking retirement plan recordkeepers and IRA providers. Through this connection, WMSI creates a roundtrip rollover process for retirement plan participants providing a choice of IRA options from the brands they know, account opening services and the coordination of distribution requests. Rollovers are processed quickly and easily online—and at no cost to the participant—in less than 20 minutes, the company said.

For more information, visit http://www.iramarket.com. 

The Markets March 8, 2012

ETF Assets Up $44B in February

Exchange-traded fund (ETF) assets increased by more than $44 billion in the month of February, up 3.9%.
Reported by

 

According to the State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) ETF Snapshot report, ETF flows nearly topped $12 billion in February. The International-Emerging category had the most significant inflows at $4.6 billion. The Size-Large Cap category posted $4.8 billion in outflows, zeroing out the inflows it had in January.  

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The top three managers in the U.S. ETF marketplace as of February 29 were BlackRock, State Street and Vanguard. Collectively, they account for approximately 83% of the U.S.-listed ETF market.  

The top three ETFs in terms of dollar volume traded for the month were the SPDR S&P 500 [SPY], iShares Russell 2000 [IWM] and PowerShares QQQ [QQQ].  

By asset class, International – Developed and Emerging Markets gained 5.7% and 6.0%, respectively. Domestic Large Cap, Mid Cap and Small Cap markets gained 4.3%, 4.5% and 2.1%, respectively. The U.S. Aggregate was flat and the U.S. Treasury was slightly negative, while the U.S. Corporate Bond was market was slightly positive in February. Commodities rose 6.1%.  

More information is available at http://www.spdrs.com.

 

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