Deals & People September 22, 2011

linkedFA Hires EVP to Help Educate Advisers

linkedFA, a social networking site for financial professionals, has hired Eric Levine as its Executive Vice President of National Sales. 
Reported by

Levine joins linkedFA from Investacorp Inc., where he was the Due-Diligence Officer and Director of Business Development.

In his new role, Levine will be responsible for working to educate financial professionals about the business benefits of social media and technology solutions, while spreading awareness of how linkedFA can help.  He will also spearhead sales initiatives and educational events driven by innovators in the financial services industry.

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linkedFA co-founder, Stephen Prosser, states: “We are extremely excited to have Eric on the linkedFA team. While many enterprises and financial institutions still struggle to find an appropriate social media solution for their advisers, Eric is poised to provide industry leaders with the education and training necessary to approve and maximize linkedFA usage.”

In Practice September 22, 2011

Opportunities Abound for TPAs in 403(b) Marketplace

Third-party administrators (TPAs) are playing an increasingly important role in the 403(b) market segment, notes an Issue Brief by Retirement Research Inc.
Reported by

Under new regulations, employers assume a more active role monitoring and managing their plans. With new administrative duties and a trend toward vendor consolidation, TPAs and advisers to 403(b) plans will likely be asked to help sponsors search for providers.  

RRI cited an ASPPA survey of third party administrators, conducted in 2010 by Brightwork Partners, that suggested 403(b) plan administration could be a major growth focus for TPAs in the next two to three years (see “TPAs Expect Major Growth Opportunity in 403(b) Market“). TPAs currently collaborate with plan sponsor’s existing 403(b) vendors/providers; they typically provide administrative, compliance, and communication services, including all important data aggregation and legacy asset tracking.  

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RRI contends that as compliance and data collection get more complex, both providers and sponsors are looking to TPAs for help with participant recordkeeping, prototype plan documents, summary plan descriptions, nondiscrimination testing, Form 5500 preparation, Web-based transactions, loan processing, and hardship determination. TPAs can offer these services on either a fully unbundled or TPA interface basis.  

Additionally, common Remitter platforms were created by some TPAs and service providers to service the growing number of Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) 403(b) plans.  

A full report can be purchased here.

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