LPL And Fiduciary360 Partner For Training
Linsco/Private Ledger Corp. (LPL), one of the nation‚s largest independent broker-dealers, and Fiduciary360 are partnering to increase training and promote fiduciary responsibility among LPL‚s senior advisors to business retirement plans.
LPL is creating a new Retirement Plan Consulting Program for its senior advisors who deal primarily with business retirement programs. To be part of the Retirement Plan Consulting Program, an LPL advisor will have to earn fi360s Accredited Investment Fiduciary (AIF) designation.
The AIF designation indicates participants have studied case law, legislative acts and regulations and are able to apply the best fiduciary practices for their retirement plan clients. The fi360 training is designed to promote responsibility and high standards for the financial advisor profession.
After gaining the fi360 AFI designation, advisors‚ processes, outputs and fees for consulting services will be pre-approved by LPL, which will enable the advisors to offer fund selection, monitoring assistance, investment policy statement design and vendor and fee analysis for clients without getting approval for each action or fee.
Fi360 offers investment education and training programs through the Center for Fiduciary Studies and Fiduciary Analytics. LPL has more than 11,500 advisors with more than $221 billion in assets under management.
"Requiring the AIF designation of its advisors … clearly demonstrates LPL‚s commitment to serving the best interests of their clients and to promoting a culture of fiduciary excellence throughout the investment industry," says Blaine Aikin, fi360 CEO.
Pershing Offers New Tool
Pershing LLC, a subsidiary of The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation, is launching a new tool for its introducing broker-dealers and registered investment advisors that will enable them to more easily meet SEC requirements regarding clients who trade company stock.
Pershing is offering Restricted Stock Systems Inc. 10b5-1 Trading Plan, which will allow Pershing customers to automatically execute trades of company stock and comply with the SEC‚s order management rules. The SEC‚s Rule 10b5-1 allows a company affiliate or insider to trade company stock without consideration of trading windows, as long as the trades are in accordance with a pre-established plan or contract, and insiders are not in possession of material nonpublic information.
The new tool is available through NetExchange Pro or NetExchange Advisor. Additional information is available at http://www.pershingadvisorsolutions.com.
Biondo Joins Investors Capital Advisory
Investors Capital Advisory Services (ICAS) is partnering with Biondo Investment Advisors.
The partnership will allow the ICAS sales team to distribute Biondo funds to Investors Capital Corp. affiliated financial advisors, as well as advisors to other outside broker-dealers through fee-based accounts. It also will enable investors to access the ICA management team at a smaller minimum. Additional information on the partners can be found at http://www.icadvisory.com or http://www.thebiondogroup.com.
IAS Launches Software Package
Interactive Advisory Software (IAS) is offering enhancements to its wealth management software designed to save time and streamline tasks. Included in the new package is the ability to perform accurate marketing-related tracking and revenue projecting and analyzing.
The new program allows all users to have access to the status of work for accounts and automatically notifies users of overdue or completed tasks. It also expands the creation of models by product and asset class and provides automatic file retrieval, among other enhancements. Additional information can be obtained at http://www.iassoftware.com.
Thornburg Introduces New Fund
Thornburg Investment Management is introducing the Thornburg Strategic Income Fund designed to provide sustainable yield, as well as long-term capital appreciation. The fund will invest in income-producing securities in A, C and I share classes and will be available through the major fund platforms. The minimum investment will be $5,000 for regular accounts and $2,000 for retirement accounts.
Investments will include domestic and foreign corporate bonds, government bonds, asset-backed securities, dividend paying stocks and derivatives. For more information on the fund visit http://www.thornburg.com.
Vanguard Adds Funds
Vanguard is adding three new index funds to its offerings. The Vanguard Mega Cap 300 Index Fund, Growth Index Fund and Value Index Fund will be traded on NYSE Arca with Institutional Shares of the new funds available directly from Vanguard.
In addition, the Vanguard Extended Duration Treasury Index Fund, a low-cost fund designed for pension plans that follow a liability-driven investing strategy, are now available, as are shares of Vanguard Market Neutral Fund, which is expected to appeal to endowments, foundations and other institutional investors.
ADVISOR EMPORIUM
February 1, 2008
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