National Financial Adds Partner
National Financial, owned by Fidelity and one of the largest providers of clearing services for broker-dealers, is establishing a relationship with Stifel Nicolaus to make the company's sell side equity research available to its 300 broker-dealers clients. The service will be available through Streetscape, National Financial's online brokerage workstation.

Stifel Nicolaus is one of the country's largest equity research firms and was recently ranked first in The Wall Street Journal's 2010 Best on the Street survey based on excellence in stock picking and earnings accuracy.

The new relationship with Stifel offers National Financial broker-dealer clients access to one of the largest domestic equity research firms on Wall Street with 76 analysts covering more than 1,100 U.S. companies. Research will be available across multiple sectors including consumer, financials, technology, health care and energy.

The Streetscape workstation enables a single point of access and lets clients avoid having to sign contracts with individual providers, manage multiple invoices and coordinate support and training with individual vendors, says National Financial.

MassMutual Encourages Young Savers
MassMutual's Retirement Services Division is joining forces with author Farnoosh Torabi, an independent Generation Y money coach, to encourage younger retirement savings plan participants to take a more active role in planning and saving for retirement.

The alliance, according to MassMutual, is meant to benefit participants of all ages, but is particularly aimed at Gen Y, generally considered those born in the 1980s and 1990s. The goal is to help them understand the value of saving early for retirement.

The awareness program will be conducted through online seminars, online video, social media interactions and live speaking events. MassMutual created the program to address the fact that recent surveys show up to 53% of retirement plan participants under 30 do not save enough to receive the full employer match.

OCE Releases Comps Companion
OCE Interactive is releasing OCE's Comps Companion research platform, the company's latest offering in relative valuation benchmarking of U.S. equities. Comps Companion follows OCE's earlier release of its Market Topographer platform for researching, benchmarking and comparing U.S. Equities.

Comps Companion will aim to explain why each company trades at a particular relative premium or discount compared to its peer group due to such things as financial leverage, dividend payout ratio or growth expectations.

Roumell Introduces Mutual Fund
Roumell Asset Management LLC, Chevy Chase, Md., is introducing Roumell Opportunistic Value Fund, the firm's first mutual fund. Its objective is capital appreciation and income, which it will seek by investing in equity, debt and cash.

The new fund is designed to provide a distinct approach to deep value investing. The firm manages equity, fixed income and balanced separate accounts for individuals and institutions.

Peak Advisor Alliance Unveiled
Peak, a financial advisor coaching and consulting firm in Omaha, Neb., is relaunching itself as Peak Advisor Alliance with new features and tools.

The rebranded firm will have a community environment that fosters learning and sharing of best practices, as well as new content for advisors to track their progress and coaching from trained professionals. A public version will include a daily blog and Twitter for advisors and a members-only version will provide new strategies, an interactive member message board and personal tracking tools. Additional information is available at www.peakadvisoralliance.com.

Vanguard Launches International ETF
Vanguard is introducing the Vanguard Total International Stock ETF, which seeks to track the MSCI All Country World ex USA Investable Market Index. The new fund will have an estimated expense ratio of 0.20%, which is more than 60% lower than the average expense ratio of competing ETFs. The new ETF is a separate share class of the Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund.

Jackson Introduces LifeGuard Freedom Flex
Jackson National Life Insurance Co. has created the company's first customized guaranteed minimum withdrawal benefit for its Perspective variable annuities. Investors who elect the optional benefit can grow their guaranteed withdrawal balance by selecting an annual bonus ranging from 5% to 8% in years when no withdrawals are taken.