Products March 27, 2013

SunGard Updates Relius Administration Product

SunGard Financial Systems released an enhanced version of its Relius Administration product.
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SunGard, which provides software and IT services to the financial industry, has enhanced the investment management, web services, mobile, and smart messaging capabilities of the Relius product, which handles retirement plan administration and recordkeeping. 

According to SunGard, the enhancements will increase flexibility and efficiencies of managing investment models and individual funds, streamline the setting up of a plan, and improve communication with plan sponsors and participants. 

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The enhancements include:

  • An enhanced investment management utility gives customers the ability to add funds, replace funds with other funds, replace a single fund with multiple funds, and replace funds with model portfolios in one global batch process.  
  • Integration with Relius Documents helps to further streamline defined contribution plans set-up in Relius Administration, while automated data validation helps to increase plan accuracy.  
  • Relius Mobile Participant updates include the ability to view and update participant demographic information and participant allocations. Relius Mobile Participant gives users the ability to view and make investment election changes from any mobile device. 
  • Smart messaging capabilities help facilitate the creation of email marketing campaigns, alerts to plan sponsors and participants, and message status notifications. 

 

“The latest enhancements for Relius Administration will help providers differentiate themselves, increase revenues and operate smarter by improving investment management, data accuracy and operations, and the experience of sponsors and participants,” said Ken Simons, senior vice president and general manager of SunGard’s Relius business unit.

 

Products March 26, 2013

LPL Debuts Retirement Partners Group

Retirement Partners Group (RPG) is LPL Financial’s new unit for advisers with deep experience who are tightly focused on the retirement plan market.  
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The new group will be a subset of LPL Financial Retirement Partners, which was formed when the firm acquired National Retirement Partners (NRP) in 2010. (See “NRP to Be New Division of LPL.”)

“From a rebranding perspective, the last piece is tying together the truly focused industry-leading group of advisers,” Bill Chetney, executive vice president of LPL Financial Retirement Partners, told PLANADVISER. As part of the division’s creation, LPL made investments in infrastructure and worksite education.

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The network of RPG advisers is a group of highly experienced LPL Financial-affiliated advisers who focus primarily on retirement plans for small to large companies. Membership in RPG identifies advisers who have demonstrated significant achievement within the retirement plan arena, the company said.

Chetney described the 87 members of the new unit as having substantial plan experience. Collectively, the member advisers have 4,000 total plans with nearly $40 billion in plan assets. While most have over $100 million in assets, it is the group’s visibility and leadership skill that made them eligible for this specific division.

 

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More important is the minimum of 10-plus years’ experience, their participation in events and conferences for plan sponsors. “We want advisers who speak at events, write articles, participate on various political action committees,” Chetney said. These are the advisers who can speak before Congress, and be the voice that can help improve the retirement experience of Americans.

RPG members will benefit from a branding and marketing effort to differentiate them from the majority of financial advisers. LPL will provide these advisers and their clients with resources and strategies to help address the needs of the increasingly complex field of retirement plans.

The program will convey a unifying, national identity while allowing RPG advisers to continue to enjoy the distinction of their association with LPL Financial. Membership in RPG will allow for networking access to other LPL Financial plan advisers, so that group members can share expertise and referrals, and strengthen industry relationships.

“It’s a group that many plan advisers might like to be associated with,” Chetney said.

We’re expecting a lot of benefits,” Chetney said. “Advisers can contribute their collective intellect and idea-sharing to drive the next generation of tools and services to develop.” As thought leaders they can help protect the interests of plan participants as the 401(k) faces challenges to its tax-advantaged status, he noted.

“We believe it will be an inspiration for all our advisers, both within the retirement plan sector and for all LPL Financial advisers in general,” Chetney said.

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