Genworth Enhances Investment Management Platform
Genworth Financial Wealth Management is enhancing its investment management platform to help advisors through the current challenging market, and is adding portfolio and investment strategies to provide advisors with more choices.
Among other things, the firm has more clearly defined its four asset allocation options. These include its tactical unconstrained asset allocation, which removes the limits on the extent and frequency of allocation shifts, allowing portfolio strategists to move aggressively.
Genworth is adding Stadion Money Management and Rochdale Investment Management to this platform.
The second allocation option, the absolute return asset allocation, is designed for more risk-averse investors. For this approach, Genworth is adding new absolute return strategists from Genworth Financial Asset Management, J.P. Morgan and Avatar Associates.
The other two options are the strategic asset allocation-a mix of stocks, bonds and cash-and the tactical constrained asset allocation, which captures a broad market exposure in short-to-intermediate term investments.
Genworth is also expanding its manager select program, which allows advisors to access more focused investment management firms, and Genworth is furthermore enhancing its administrative and cash account choices, allowing advisors to phase securities and cash positions into or out of a managed account program on a temporary basis.
The changes are being made in part to respond to bull and bear cycles that may last for years, rather than to the short-term swings the market has experienced in the past, says Gurinder Ahluwalia, co-chairman of Genworth Financial Wealth Management.
Quantuvis Launches Best Practices Study
Quantuvis Consulting is introducing a best practices study series free to financial advisors in a format that allows them to compare their performance to personal goals and to that of industry peers. Advisors will be able to make immediate improvements to their practices based on the results.
Advisors can participate by visiting www.quantuvis.com and clicking on "participate now." The first study, due in September, will focus on business performance. Future studies will focus on business development, human capital and operations optimization.
National Financial ffers More Efficiency
National Financial, a provider of clearing, custody and brokerage solutions for broker-dealers, is introducing two programs designed to help save time and money.
The Business Process Manager program should help broker-dealers create a more efficient operating environment and increase profitability through analysis, electronic records management and work-flow automation.
National Financial's new consulting services are designed to assess a firm's back-office operations to see where efficiency improvements can
be made, where better technology can be used and where productivity can be improved.
Grail Advisors Introduces New ETF
Grail Advisors, a developer and distributor of actively managed exchange-traded funds, is now trading the American Beacon Large Cap Value ETF on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol GVT.
Grail Advisors will serve as the fund's manager. Like traditional actively managed mutual funds and unlike other active-equity ETFs, the new Grail Advisors offering allows portfolio managers unrestricted trading.
United Capital, FundQuest Forge Partnership
United Capital Financial Advisors Inc. and FundQuest are offering a custom suite of technology-based sales and productivity tools, back-office operations, portfolio accounting services, best-of-breed investments and transition support teams.
The new partnership offers outsourced services designed to integrate with United Capital's existing portfolio management capabilities. Fund Quest will provide reporting aggregation, operational and work-flow management technology, portfolio accounting integration and sales and financial planning tools.
Wolters Kluwer Offers Compliance eLearning
Wolters Kluwer Financial Services is creating online training courses for U.S. securities professionals.
The courses, called "Compliance eLearning Solutions," offer financial services firms custom tools for communicating with employees about compliance obligations, policies and procedures. Additional information can be found at www.complianceresourcenetwork.com.