hot off the presses
PLAN SPONSOR & PARTICIPANT TOOLS
Standard Retirement Services announced the launch enhanced retirement plan solutions. The solutions, which include auto-enrollment with the company’s Mainspring Managed service as the qualified default investment alternative (QDIA), combines behavioral finance research and “proven best practices” to help make retirement goals attainable for plan participants, according to the firm.
The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America launched its online resource center for employee benefits. The new Web site helps employers and brokers maximize employee benefits offerings by making information about industry trends, insights into perceptions and behavior, and real-world benefits strategies accessible to apply to workplace programs.
Smart401k, an Overland Park, Kansas-based education provider for employer plans, unveiled two online offerings. The company released a Retirement Education Center and an asset-allocation tool, and both are publicly available.
Diversified Investment Advisors introduced Diversified Direct Mobile that allows participants to monitor their accounts from their mobile devices.
TIAA-CREF launched a monthly podcast series, “On the Road,” which answers timely questions related to retirement and investment issues, as well as some questions advisers have received from their own clients.
Principal Financial Group launched a Web site to help educate sponsors and advisers about the Department of Labor’s (DoL) new fee disclosure regulation. The site includes written materials as well as interviews with Principal executives and Jamey Delaplane, a partner at the law firm, Davis & Harman, LLP, about the regulation.
SPARK Institute unveiled data standards for retirement income. As new retirement income solutions continue to come to market, the industry organization has been working on how to track and report on those accounts.
Through a strategic alliance with Mid Atlantic Financial Platforms, Inc., DailyAccess Corporation is now positioned to offer exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in employee benefit plans.
Nuveen Investments announced additional efforts in developing its business platform that serves the employer-sponsored retirement market as a defined contribution investment-only (DCIO) service provider.
Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP and the Specialty Claims Department of the Chubb Group of Insurance Companies have teamed up to prepare a guide about the Employee Retirement Income Security Act’s (ERISA) fiduciary liability provisions and how fiduciary insurance can help mitigate potential liability.
BB&T introduced an FDIC-insured deposit program (IDP) to its 401(k) retirement plan sponsors and participants.
Cash balance plan provider Kravitz opened a New York office to develop its business in the Northeast and serve existing customers.
The Hartford announced several changes to the 529 College Savings Program it manages for the State of West Virginia. The changes include a new relationship with Upromise Investments, including an enhanced account management platform with Ugift – Give College Savings and the Upromise service; and the introduction of new age bands in the age-based portfolios for the SMART529 plans.
NewRiver, Inc., and Newkirk Products, Inc., have entered into an agreement for Newkirk to distribute NewRiver’s Prospectus Express product in the 401(k) and 403(b) markets via Newkirk’s Fund Central platform.
Chris Tobe started a niche consulting firm, Stable Value Consultants, that will do project, hourly, and retainer consulting for plans, collective trusts, and the stable-value industry.
Russell Investments kicked off an expanded manager due-diligence service that provides institutional clients with the opportunity to understand and manage business, operational, and compliance risks at the total fund level based on a deeper understanding of their individual investment managers.
Symetra Life Insurance Company announced its Daily Value Fixed Account (Daily Value) feature for retirement plans is now available on the CPI Qualified Plan Consultants, Inc., retirement program platform.
Bank of Hawaii’s Investment Services Group is now offering its clients an open architecture unified managed account (UMA) that can integrate multiple products.
ADVISER TOOLS
Principal Financial Group introduced a suite of exit planning tools and support that will allow financial advisers to help business owners develop sound business exit or succession plans. The new sales approach allows advisers to work directly with a team of experts, including attorneys and CPAs, who focus on business customers.
John Hancock’s new “hard wired” program helps advisers understand client behavior, structure client portfolios, and build advisers’ businesses, the company said. The first continuing education course is titled “What Were They Thinking?” and uses behavioral finance concepts to help advisers understand and moderate client behavior. The second, “Building Better Portfolios: Portfolio allocations that help minimize irrational investor behavior,” builds on that knowledge and translates behavioral finance into practical ideas for allocations.
Securian Financial Group’s Fiduciary Clarity program offers advisers the means to help educate employers to manage their investment and administrative fiduciary responsibilities.
The Retirement Income Solutions Enterprise (RISE) is offering a free interactive financial education tool and video to financial advisers. The financial education PDF tool, which can be e-mailed, includes an introductory video and quiz designed to put consumers at ease, and allow them to identify areas where they can use the help of an adviser.
John Hancock added a new online tool, Coach’s Corner, to its PRIME Elements program to helps advisers better identify the needs of their prospective clients.
The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc., is launching an educational campaign to help financial advisers consult with doctors, lawyers, and other professionals on planning for retirement in the face of rising taxes, health care reform, and increasing business expenses.
National Planning Holdings, Inc. (NPH) launched WealthOne, a Web-based advisory platform that offers investment strategies and products to all NPH-affiliated advisers. The new platform gives advisers access to investment solutions from eight money managers, including The Vanguard Group, JP Morgan, and UBS.
Investment Risk Management Systems Inc. released FundReveal, a new Web-based tool that uses risk, return and persistence ratings to identify funds with low risk and high returns. The program was designed for individual investors, financial advisers and asset managers, to help lower the risk of loss in their portfolios while potentially increasing returns by identifying funds whose managers demonstrate superior investment decision-making capability.
Transamerica Retirement Services recently launched two resources to help third-party administrators (TPAs) build and expand their own retirement plan business. The Transamerica Retirement Services Industry Speakers Bureau and TPA Administrator Training Institute are designed to help third-party administrators better understand the opportunities available in the retirement market, and provide them with the strategies and tools to grow their own business.
Principal Financial Group announced a TPA installation expense allowance program.
Flexible Plan Investments, Ltd. , a national provider of actively managed accounts, announced Absolute Return Portfolios with Wolf Pack Advisors are now available to the independent broker/dealer and registered investment adviser (RIA) community.
INVESTMENT BENCHMARKING
PIMCO unveiled the PIMCO Global Advantage Government Bond Index (GLADI Government) and European Advantage Government Bond Index, two sovereign bond benchmarks designed to capture fixed income investment opportunities.
Standard & Poor’s launched a series of credit default swap sector indices. The S&P CDS Sector Indices seek to track the credit default swap market for a select number of corporate credits in distinct Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS) sectors and subindustries.
ReFlow Management Co., LLC, introduced the ReFlow Fund Flow Volatility Index (FLIX Index), designed to help mutual fund managers better understand fluctuating asset flows and their impacts on fund performance.
Dow Jones Indexes announced the launch of the Dow Jones Long-Term Inflation Indexes.
INVESTMENTS
John Hancock Funds completed the adoption of the Robeco Boston Partners Mid Cap Value Fund and has launched it as the newly established John Hancock Disciplined Value Mid Cap Fund (JVMAX).
The Hartford Mutual Funds announced permanent fund expense reductions on 36 funds covering institutional and retirement share classes as well as the retail share classes of six funds.
OvaCurrus LLC announced a methodology to deliver sustainable, inflation adjusted, lifetime retirement income for 401(k) and IRA participants in a mutual fund or collective trust environment. Lifetime Income Stream Accounts (LISA) does not rely on any insurance company or other investment products.
Northern Trust’s asset management arm, Northern Trust Global Investments, launched a Frontier Markets index fund.
Janus Capital Group unveiled the Perkins Value Plus Income Fund (JPVAX).
Russell Investments extended its Enhanced Asset Allocation (EAA) capability to the retail market with the addition of Enhanced Model Strategies, which provide advisers with the ability to offer individual investors an opportunity to take advantage of market dislocations.
Brinker Capital announced plans to launch an absolute return portfolio embedded in a separately managed account (SMA) format.
Fidelity Investments restructured its 20-year-old Select Environmental Portfolio to increase exposure to faster growing industries, such as alternative energy and energy efficiency, while reducing exposure to slower growth industries, such as waste management. A Fidelity news release said that, as a result, the fund likely will have a broader investment universe and a higher allocation to foreign markets due to the global nature of the alternative and renewable energy industries.
Barclays Capital announced the launch of Barclays Retirement Income Notes. The suite of products seeks to provide a cost-efficient, transparent, and flexible alternative for generating retirement income. Level-Pay Notes and Inflation-Indexed Level-Pay Notes are the first two products in the suite.
The Vanguard Group unveiled the Vanguard Target Retirement 2055 Fund, for investors 18 to 22 years old. Vanguard said the fund’s initial allocation is approximately 90% stocks
and 10% bonds.
Rydex|SGI introduced four mutual funds “that may help investors weather the ups and downs of challenging market environments.”
Vanguard announced the restructuring of the investment advisory arrangements for Vanguard Explorer Fund, Vanguard U.S. Value Fund, and Vanguard Market Neutral Fund.
Natixis Global Associates has unveiled Natixis ASG Managed Futures Strategy Fund (AMFAX) to be managed by AlphaSimplex Group (ASG).
State Street Global Advisors has been selected by Lincoln Financial Group to subadvise variable life insurance and variable annuity investment options.
Managed Portfolio Advisors (MPA), a division of Natixis, recently teamed up with Litman/Gregory to offer managed exchange-traded fund (ETF) portfolios in Schwab’s Access program.
AllianceBernstein asked the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for permission to launch an actively managed ETF. The AllianceBernstein request said the initial fund in what eventually could be a series of offerings would be called the AllianceBernstein Active ETF – U.S. Quantitative Strategy.
EGShares launched the India Small Cap ETF (NYSE: SCIN). The Emerging Global Shares INDXX India Small Cap Index Fund invests in 75 publicly traded companies with market capitalizations between $100 million and $2 billion and is designed to track the performance of the INDXX India Small Cap Index.
UBS Investment Bank announced the UBS E-TRACS 2x Leveraged Long Alerian MLP Infrastructure Index has begun trading on NYSE Arca under the ticker symbol, MLPL. The new exchange-traded note (ETN) provides leveraged exposure to a portfolio of energy infrastructure Master Limited Partnerships (MLPs) through a single investment.
Asset manager Van Eck Global launched a U.S.-listed ETF designed to provide investors with exposure to an index that tracks a basket of bonds issued in local currencies by emerging market governments.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch unveiled its premium algorithm, ETF-aX. This ETF-specific algorithm analyzes market depth and price data across an ETF’s underlying portfolio to identify the most efficient combination of ETF, stock, and futures and then automatically trades them to source liquidity and find the best prices.
Virtus Investment Partners launched the Virtus Premium AlphaSector Fund (Class A: VAPAX), an extension of Virtus’ AlphaSector product suite that is subadvised by quantitatively-based investment firm F-Squared Investments, Inc.
Invesco PowerShares Capital Management, LLC, and Deutsche Bank have launched two ETNs linked to CBOT Ultra T-Bond futures. The ETNs are senior unsecured obligations issued by Deutsche Bank AG, London Branch, linked to the month-over-month performance of a total-return version of the DB Long US Treasury Bond Futures Index or the DB Short US Treasury Bond Futures Index.
Invesco PowerShares announced that the PowerShares High Yield Corporate Bond Portfolio (PHB) began tracking the RAFI High Yield Bond Index and was renamed the PowerShares Fundamental High Yield Corporate Bond Portfolio.
WisdomTree, an exchange-traded fund sponsor and asset manager, launched the WisdomTree Emerging Markets Local Debt Fund (ELD) on the NYSE Arca.