LPL Introduces New Online Portfolio Management System

Linsco/Private Ledger (LPL) has introduced a new online portfolio management system, Portfolio Manager.

Portfolio Manager provides LPL representatives with advanced performance reporting on brokerage and advisory accounts, account grouping and the capability to add and report on assets held outside of LPL.

"We learned that our representatives were challenged with getting a whole picture of their clients‚ holdings–not just those at LPL, but all holdings–to see how they are doing with their investments," said Esther Stearns, managing director and chief information officer for LPL. "To solve their challenge, we created an online portfolio management tool that will be completely integrated into our core operational technology, BranchNet."

Portfolio Manager‚s advanced graphics allows representatives to demonstrate their clients‚ performance using sophisticated illustrations, including eight new client-approved reports.

"Now, representatives can go from processing a trade or opening a new account to quickly generating a consolidated report to tell their clients just how they are doing," said Stearns.

With more than 25% of LPL representatives subscribing to Portfolio Manager prior to its release, the tool is being adopted faster than any other LPL technology release to date.

Headquartered in Boston and San Diego, LPL provides services and support to more than 5,000 investment professionals in branch offices throughout the United States. For additional information about LPL, visit www.lpl.com or call (888) 564-6575, ext. 6555.

Pioneer Launches Global Fund

Pioneer Investment Management Inc., based in Boston, has launched Pioneer Global High Yield Fund, an open-end fund with exposure to the U.S. and international high-yield markets and emerging market bonds. The fund, which seeks to maximize total return through a combination of income and capital appreciation, invests primarily in below-investment-grade bonds.

Pioneer‚s fixed-income team, led by Ken Taubes, senior vice president and U.S. director of fixed income investments, manages the fund.

For information on Pioneer funds, call the firm at (800) 225-6292.

Lockwood Introduces Program

Lockwood Advisors Inc., a subsidiary of The Bank of New York Co. Inc., has started an Overlay Separate Account Portfolio (OSAP) program for independent financial advisors and their advisory clients. The new offering is Lockwood‚s entry into the multiple-style, or multi-disciplinary, separate account arena and expands the managed money component of Lockwood‚s wealth advisory product menu.

Lockwood‚s Investment Advisory Services group will serve as portfolio manager for the program, which is driven by the firm‚s proprietary Investment Strategies research model, which provides asset allocation and investment vehicle recommendations. Currently, the model includes five recommended investment strategies: current income, growth and income, conservative growth, moderate growth and growth. Lockwood has retained Parametric Portfolio Associates to perform the overlay function. The program includes automatic account rebalancing and monitoring of buys and sells across the portfolio to promote overall tax-efficiency.

The minimum investment for the program is $250,000. For more information on Lockwood, visit www.lockwoodadvisors.com.

DST Vision Adds Choices

DST Vision, an account management Web site for financial intermediaries, has added a 529 Plan, three fund families and a variable annuity company.

Customer account information for State Street Corp.‚s The Education Plan is now available to independent advisors and broker-dealers. ING‚s variable annuity company and GAM's family of mutual funds also were added recently. Ivy Funds and Advantus now are available as a result of new business relationships with Waddell & Reed, a current Vision participant. The GAM Funds, the Ivy Funds and Advantus are all former AdvisorCentral clients.

Vision offers customer account information from more than 260 mutual fund and variable annuity companies. For more information, visit www.dstvision.com.

Fidelity Closes Fund

Fidelity Investments closed its Low-Priced Stock Fund to new accounts on December 31. The fund seeks capital appreciation by normally investing at least 80% of its assets in stocks priced at or below $35 per share. Joel C. Tillinghast has managed the fund since its inception in 1989.

The company is closing the fund to allow Tillinghast to make investment choices without the pressure of heavy cash inflows. Assets grew by 66% last year. For more information about Fidelity, visit www.fidelity.com.