Hot off the Presses

PLAN SPONSOR & PARTICIPANT TOOLS

New York Life began using predictive modeling software, allowing it to determine which active 401(k) participants are most likely to roll assets from an outside 401(k) or an outside IRA into their 401(k) administered by the firm. Some of the predictors of potential roll-in candidates include their tenure, number of loans, and frequency of Web logins.

Participants with retirement accounts through the Principal Financial Group can receive certain account information via text messages and their personal iGoogle homepages. The iGoogle gadget allows participants to view account information directly from iGoogle without accessing The Principal’s Web site.

BPAS, provider of retirement plan administration, rolled out its Annual Plan Review Report to plan sponsor clients. The tool examines a plan’s data, including average balances, participation rates, fund utilization, loan utilization, and other considerations. The company said financial intermediaries can use it to prepare for annual plan meetings.

Affiliated Computer Services (ACS) introduced Healthy 401(k) Plan Analytics, software allowing sponsors to track and analyze participant behavior and trends. Sponsors can view aggregate data by any participant subset such as location, division, or compensation level.

Fidelity Investments launched a guidance program to help investors better understand and consider fixed-income investments as part of their investment goals. The program has three main components: a team of more than 100 fixed-income specialists; a new online fixed-income resource center; and educational seminars.

ThriveOn, Inc., added Open Enrollment and New Hire Training modules to its online Benefits Learning Center solution. Each module provides a central online destination to access multimedia benefits education.

Prudential Annuities launched a Web site, www.retirementredzone.com/protect, targeting investors in or nearing critical years before and after retirement—the period Prudential calls The Retirement Red Zone—who are focused on finding ways to protect their retirement income.

AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company said it will participate in the Internal Revenue Service’s 403(b) prototype program.

PenChecks is offering the new Premium IRA Fiduciary Service, which enables retirement plans with mandatory distribution provisions to satisfy the government’s requirements with distributions up to $5,000, as well as missing participants with larger balances.

Focus Retirement Plan Partners announced an enhanced suite of retirement plan consulting services available to plan sponsors and financial advisers. The services include the Vendor Fiduciary Review, a side-by-side evaluation of the incumbent provider versus four other retirement vendors, comparing fees, investments, and more than 250 data points in areas such as technology, recordkeeping, compliance, and employee education.

ADVISER TOOLS

iShares introduced three free separately managed account (SMA) Web tools for financial professionals and their clients. The tools provide “apple-to-apple” comparisons with SMAs versus iShares ETFs, stocks, and mutual funds. They also compare standard deviation, active risk, active return, cumulative returns, and asset correlations.

ShareBuilder 401k, provider of 401(k) plans for businesses with one to 250 employees, has introduced a 401(k) offering to be sold through registered investment advisers (RIAs). RIAs log into the ShareBuilder 401k PRO Web site, type in their client’s information and, in about 30 seconds, they have a proposal they can e-mail to clients, or print and provide in person.

Pershing LLC began providing introducing broker/dealer and independent RIA customers with access to a performance reporting solution from Black Diamond through NetX360, Pershing’s technology platform. Through Black Diamond, Pershing clients are able to view a complete portfolio of their clients’ assets, including assets held away from Pershing.

RIA In A Box, a consulting business that helps set up RIA firms, offers mock audit services to RIA firms that want extra preparation for regulatory audits. The service initially is available to those RIAs established by RIA In A Box. The company also is offering review services to RIAs to ensure advertising materials are in compliance. The consulting firm will view all materials—advertising, business cards, letterheads, and Web sites—to check that they meet federal and state requirements.

McGraw-Hill’s Financial Communications released Advisor Marketing Solutions, an online program designed to help financial advisers attract prospects and build client relationships. The tool offers a targeted approach to help advisers build a specific segment of their businesses.

Security Administrators, Inc., a subsidiary of Security Mutual Life Insurance Company, introduced a guide for financial advisers about fully insured plans and cash balance plans.

As Charles Schwab reports seeing an uptick in advisers going independent, the firm released a white paper to help advisers considering the transition. “A Case for Starting or Joining a Registered Investment Advisory (RIA) Firm” examines the economics of independence, the adviser’s options for moving forward, and the role of the custodian.

Principal Financial Group said its new Life Events kit offers financial professionals marketing materials to identify and help clients through life events, such as getting married, buying a home, or retiring.

Wealth2k offers a free white paper, “Embracing a New Retirement & Communications Framework,” for financial advisers. The firm said the future success of advisers in the retirement income space depends upon both effective investing and communication strategies, including the Web.

Investment advisers who custody with Charles Schwab now can access a Web site boasting more intuitive tools to manage client accounts. Schwab Advisor Center, located at www.schwabadvisorcenter.com, integrates with Schwab Data Delivery (formerly SchwabLink), the company’s data files delivery and data management application.

Advisors Trusted Advisor now offers the Roth 2010 Conversion Package, containing marketing tools, education materials, and a Roth conversion tool, available through the Roth 2010 Advisor Portal.

LPL Financial Corporation launched its Retirement Plus Program, offered through the company’s recently formed Retirement Plan Consulting Group. The program offers an array of retirement plan products, as well as recordkeeping and plan administration services through CPI Qualified Plan Consultants, Guardian Retirement Services, ING, and The Principal Financial Group.

INVESTMENT BENCHMARKING

Standard & Poor’s Index Services launched the S&P Securities Lending Index Series, seeking to reflect the average securities-lending rate for the constituents of the S&P 500, S&P MidCap 400, S&P SmallCap 600, and the underlying GICS sector sub-indexes for all three leading U.S. equity benchmarks.

Morningstar, Inc., has launched the latest version of Morningstar Direct, a Web-based platform that connects institutional investment professionals to investment research and data. The most significant enhancement is the Presentation Studio interface, which allows asset managers, consultants, institutional investors, and retirement plan sponsors to create fully customized reports, presentations, and fact sheets featuring their company’s brand design.

Russell Investments developed the Russell Target Date Metric product, which offers a returns-based measure of how well a target-date fund family performed over a specific time period. The offering’s methodology was designed to measure conventional performance universes over typical historical intervals, such as three months, one year, and three years, Russell said.

J.P. Morgan Worldwide Securities Services (WSS) has developed an asset allocation and manager selection analysis application, Portfolio Construction Tool, which allows plan sponsors and other institutional investors to see which portfolios potentially generate the optimal risk-adjusted returns.

INVESTMENTS

The Vanguard Group filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for seven new bond index funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to be launched in late 2009. The funds will offer ETF Shares and Signal Shares with expected expense ratios of 0.15%, and Institutional Shares with an expense ratio of 0.09%.

The Vanguard Group shuttered its PRIMECAP Core Fund (VPCCX) to advisers and institutional clients such as defined benefit plans, endowments, and foundations, but the $3.8-billion fund remains open without purchase limits to defined contribution plan participants.

JennisonDryden , the proprietary mutual fund family of Prudential Financial, Inc., added the Dryden Total Return Bond Fund (PDBAX) to the fixed-income allocation of its full lineup of asset allocation funds.

Tactical ETF Strategies, a division of Gerard Asset Management, LTD, was available for employer-sponsored retirement plans, effective October 1. The Tactical ETF Strategies are actively managed, risk-controlled strategies that increase or decrease the equity exposure based on a quantitative methodology of anticipating risk.

Halter Financial Investments L.P. combined forces with Euro Pacific Capital Inc. to launch the EPH China Fund (ticker: EPHCX), designed to give investors access to companies doing business in China. The fund will be managed by Euro Pacific Halter Asia Management, Inc.

The Hartford Mutual Fundshas reopened The Hartford MidCap Value Fund to new investors. The fund, which is subadvised by Wellington Management Company, LLP, has been closed to new investors since August 2004.

PIMCO has launched the PIMCO Real Income Funds, mutual funds designed to provide retirees a steady stream of monthly income hedged against inflation. The funds utilize a laddered portfolio of primarily Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS) and initially will be offered in two maturities, 2019 and 2029.

Putnam Investments launched a Web site to support its nine Putnam Global Sector Funds targeting stocks in sectors across the MSCI World Index. The site includes streaming video, analyst Q&As, and stock research stories that will rotate to provide coverage of specific funds and analysts and offer insight about timely issues.