Deals & People March 29, 2024

Retirement Industry People Moves – 3/29/24

Nicolet National Bank brings on new wealth, private client services head; Standard appoints new corporate actuary and chief risk officer; and Equitable names new retirement and investment leaders.

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Nicolet National Bank Hires Bohn to Lead Wealth, Private Client Services

Nicolet National Bank, the operating entity of bank holding company Nicolet Bankshares Inc., has hired William Bohn to lead its wealth management and private client and trust businesses.

As executive vice president of wealth management, private client and trust services, Bohn will oversee the bank’s wealth, client and trust services, alongside its retirement plan services. He will report to Mike Daniels, chairman, president and CEO, who oversees wealth management, retirement plan services, private client services and trust and investment management.

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Bohn joins the bank from USI Insurance Services, where he was the CEO of USI-Community Agencies. Prior to that role, he worked at Associated Banc-Corp., where he held several senior executive roles, including serving as executive vice president and head of wealth management and institutional services.

The Standard Shuffles Corporate Actuary and Chief Risk Role

Lauren Canfield

The Standard has appointed Lauren Canfield, formerly assistant vice president and actuary in actuarial transformation, to the role of vice president, corporate actuary and chief risk officer, effective April 1; she will also become a member of the company’s management committee.

Canfield is taking the role from Sally Manafi, who will retire on March 31 after joining the firm in 1992 and holding various leadership positions.

Canfield will be the corporate actuary and chief risk officer for the Standard’s StanCorp Financial Group Inc., Standard Insurance Co. and The Standard Life Insurance Co. of New York. She will be responsible for enterprise risk management, asset liability management and economic capital management; she will also hold responsibility for the actuarial aspects of company financial statements and product pricing, according to the firm.

Sally Manafi

Canfield joined the Standard in 2006, holding various actuarial roles at both Standard Insurance Co. and StanCorp Mortgage Investors. She subsequently held leadership roles in employee benefits and corporate actuarial, where, as assistant vice president and actuary in actuarial transformation since 2020, she has focused on the strategy and technology decisions intended to transform the actuarial function across the Standard.

Manafi will depart after leading the development of the company’s asset liability management function and enterprise risk management practice, along with being the “architect” of the firm’s ongoing actuarial transformation, according to the announcement. Recently, she had responsibility for the company’s corporate development function and several recent acquisitions.

Equitable Announces 2 Leader Moves

Jim Kais

Equitable, an Equitable Holdings Inc. company, has appointed a new head of group retirement, moving the former leader to its investment management division.

Effective April 1, Jim Kais will take the role of head of group retirement for Equitable after previously heading retirement plans for Ameritas. He will report to Nick Lane, president of Equitable, and join the firm’s operating committee.

Jessica Baehr, the former head of group retirement, will move into the role of president of Equitable’s investment management team. Baehr held the role of group retirement head for more than two years and will remain on the firm’s operating committee; she will be reporting to Chief Investment Officer Steven Joenk.

Kais will oversee strategy, product portfolio, client experience and financial results for Equitable’s group retirement business, including its 403(b) and 457 businesses and the small business 401(k) market.

During his time at Ameritas, Kais “transformed the company’s retirement plan distribution system,” according to the announcement. He has also worked with plan sponsors in the 403(b), 457 and 401(k) plan markets, including establishing the multiple employer plan business at Ameritas. Prior to that role, he worked at Transamerica, ADP Inc., Prudential and Merrill. He currently serves on the advisory board for the SPARK Institute and on the retirement plans committee of the American Council of Life Insurers.

Jessica Baehr

Baehr, who has been with Equitable for more than a decade, will oversee the registered investment adviser business for the firm, covering 126 portfolios that underlie the firm’s variable insurance products, retail mutual funds and suite of model portfolios. The division has about $116 billion in assets under management.

Baehr’s previous roles at the company included chief operating officer for the life and employee benefits businesses and head of investor relations. Prior to Equitable, Baehr worked in the nonprofit sector in higher education and international development.

“Equitable Investment Management is a differentiator for Equitable,” said CIO Joenk in a statement. “Jessica is a seasoned leader who is well-positioned to usher in our next chapter of growth, drawing upon her experience running our second largest business, Group Retirement, and deep understanding of our variable insurance products and proprietary funds.”

Compliance March 28, 2024

SEC Requires Internet Advisers to Be 100% Online

In order to register using the internet adviser exception, advisers must provide all their services through a website and not work with clients in person or via phone, according to final SEC rulemaking.

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The Securities and Exchange Commission finalized rules on Wednesday that will require advisers using the internet adviser exception to register with the SEC to provide all advice through an interactive website. Previous rules had a de minimis exception which allowed advisers to provide advice to 15 or fewer clients through other means, such as direct phone calls or meetings, while still using the internet adviser exception.

Advisers are required to register with the SEC if their assets under management reach $110 million, and they may elect to register if their assets reach $25 million. In 2002, the SEC made an exception for advisers who conduct most of their business online which allowed them to voluntarily register even if their assets were less than $25 million.

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The Exemption for Certain Investment Advisers Operating Through the Internet was initially issued in 2002 to allow small, internet-based advisers to register with the SEC instead of with their home state—the common practice for small advisers. As the market has evolved, however, the SEC found that, as SEC Chairman Gary Gensler wrote in a statement Wednesday, “an exemption written in 2002 allows gaps in 2024.” The final rule, he wrote, is motivated in part by consistent compliance issues from smaller advisers relying on the exemption while still offering financial planning offline.

An SEC risk alert from 2021 stated that “nearly half of the advisers claiming reliance on the Internet adviser exemption were ineligible to rely on the exemption, and many were not otherwise eligible for SEC-registration. This has been a common finding for many years.”

The SEC staff noted that it had observed “advisers that: (1) did not have an interactive website; or (2) provided advisory personnel who could expand upon the investment advice provided by the adviser’s interactive website or otherwise provide investment advice to clients, such as financial planning.”

Gensler wrote that the changes now “better reflect what it means in 2024 truly to provide an exclusively internet-based service. This would better align registration requirements with modern technology and help the Commission in the efficient and effective oversight of registered investment advisers.”

The new rule becomes effective 90 days after being published in the Federal Register. An adviser that becomes ineligible to use the exemption must register in one or more states and withdraw their registration with the SEC by filing Form ADV-W by June 29, 2025.

The Investment Adviser Association issued a statement on the new rule that “the amendments narrow and provide clarity around the exemption, but their impact is likely to be very modest since only a small number of advisers rely on the exemption today (around 250) and even fewer are likely to rely on it as amended.”

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