Products August 20, 2010

UBS Revives Adviser Training Program

UBS AG’s U.S. wealth management arm is hosting its first broker training class in two years, another sign that firms are seeking new ways to expand their recruiting efforts.  
Reported by

The Swiss bank’s trainees, numbering roughly 150 to serve in its fifteen largest markets, will spend four months at the brokerage’s headquarters before moving to branch offices where they will be paired up with veteran advisers.  

According to a Reuters story, a steep decline in movement follows last year’s recruiting wars, likely the result of big brokers signing retention or recruitment packages. Brokerage firms have had to cast a wider net in their search for new talent. In an effort to help new employees acclimate to their positions, Wall Street has also reinstated introductory and instructive programs. The story claims USB has brought in institutional brokers, bankers, and other financial services professionals, including those with sales and business development backgrounds.  

Never miss a story — sign up for PLANADVISER newsletters to keep up on the latest retirement plan adviser news.

These efforts represent a significant risk and cost for the company; many recruits will leave, and those who do stay will not boost their firm’s client assets overnight, with only a few ever becoming highly productive brokers, the story said.

 More information on UBS is available here.  

Compliance August 20, 2010

PBGC Takes Bank Company Plan

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) has assumed responsibility for the underfunded pension plan covering more than 1,000 former workers and retirees of Irwin Financial Corp., a Columbus, Indiana-based bank company.

Reported by

A PBGC news release said it stepped in because Irwin Financial is liquidating under bankruptcy proceedings and there will be no sponsor left to fund or administer the plan.

According to PBGC estimates, the Irwin Financial Corporation Employees Pension Plan is 56% funded, with assets of $26.7 million to cover $47.2 million in benefit liabilities. The PBGC expects to be responsible for $19.1 million of the $20.5 million shortfall. The plan, ended on September 8, 2009. The agency assumed responsibility for the plan August 4, 2010.

Want the latest retirement plan adviser news and insights? Sign up for PLANADVISER newsletters.

Irwin Financial operated two banks, Irwin Union Bank and Trust Co., and Irwin Union Bank, F.S.B. Irwin Union was shut down on Sept. 18, 2009, by the Indiana Department of Financial Institutions; the other bank was closed by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Thrift Supervision.

Additionally, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.(FDIC)  was appointed as receiver of both banks. The FDIC entered into a purchase agreement with First Financial Bank, N.A., of Hamilton, Ohio, to buy the banks, but the pension plan was not included in the agreement. The company filed for Chapter 7 liquidation on September 18, 2009, in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

Assumption of the plan’s unfunded liabilities will increase the PBGC’s claims by $19.1 million and was not previously included in the agency’s fiscal year 2009 financial statements, the agency said.

«