Fidelity's Wealthscape Adds Alts Research
Fidelity has begun offering proprietary research on alternative investments to advisors on its Wealthscape platform, available at no additional charge. The research covers third-party portfolio strategies in private credit, equity and real estate.
The tools include an expanded thought leadership library focused on customer exposure to alts. A recent white paper, for instance, focuses on the evaluation of alternative strategies, while previous ones covered different topics such as alternative basics.
The tools will allow advisors to compare a wide range of investment strategies by researching private credit, private real assets and private equity funds. The launch of the tools comes as more advisors are turning to alternative asset classes to boost portfolio returns, the company said.
Fidelity says on its website, “More than half of advisors cite due diligence of underlying strategies and managers as barriers when investing in intermittent liquidity (53%) and illiquid (55%) alts.”
Cetera Offers Money-Back Guarantee on Asset Growth Program
After three years of running its GrowthLine marketing program, Cetera Financial Group is backing up its claim that the program leads to faster asset growth by offering a money-back guarantee.
The guarantee allows for a refund of up to $2,400 on the affiliation fee of GrowthLine if advisors don’t achieve at least 38% growth in assets under administration. The program is designed to stimulate organic growth at firms.
A “peer group” is created to measure against each firm that goes through the GrowthLine program. If the new affiliate does not grow its assets under administration at least 38% faster than the peer group did in the year following the completion of the six-month program, a refund will be provided.
ProShares Launches Nasdaq-100 High Income ETF
Exchange-traded-fund provider ProShares has launched the ProShares Nasdaq-100 High Income ETF (IQQQ). The fund seeks investment results, before fees and expenses, that track the performance of the Nasdaq-100 Daily Covered Call Index, which is designed to replicate the performance of an investment strategy that combines a long position in the Nasdaq-100 Index with a short position in Nasdaq-100 Index call options. The new fund invests in Nasdaq-100 stocks and uses swap agreements to gain exposure to daily call options.
“Many investors seeking income have added covered call ETFs to their portfolios. However, conventional covered call ETFs often sacrifice total return to generate high income,” said ProShares CEO Michael L. Sapir. The new fund, he said, is “the first Nasdaq-100 ETF powered by a daily call options strategy, [and] offers investors both the potential for high income and a long-term total return approximating that of the Nasdaq-100.”
AssetMark Launches Advisor Dashboard
AssetMark announced the launch of its Advisor Dashboard, which is the new home page for eWealthManager, the firm’s advisor platform. The dashboard provides relevant information to advisors who own their own firms, including assets under management, revenue, revenue per advisor, and key performance indicators, the company said.
The dashboard will allow advisors to have a full view of all the key metrics that a CEO would have in running their own business, according to the firm. Using the new tool, advisors can create five custom dashboards for different activities. Each one will have a set of tiles the advisor can customize.
LPL Expands Advisor High-Net-Worth Services
LPL Financial has expanded its High-Net-Worth Services program, which is designed to equip advisors with the services affluent families want. The program, provided by LPL Business Solutions, offers advisors services related to case consultations, advanced planning, estate and philanthropic planning, tax planning and customized portfolio construction, as well as access to a “virtual ensemble practice,” the company said.
LPL has also dropped the $5 million account minimum for the program so an advisor can serve clients at any stage of their life cycle. The program also allows advisors to use the services for clients with high levels of illiquid wealth.
Advyzon, Apex Merge Client Service, Custody Platforms
Advyzon, a comprehensive service and technology platform and portfolio management solution for financial advisors and investment managers, has announced a collaboration with Apex, a digital custody and clearing platform, to integrate their solutions.
The integration will let RIAs seamlessly work through both a client services portal and separate custodian system. The two companies said they have integrated the systems into a single technology to save advisors time on task-switching.
The integration of the two platforms provides for new account opening workflows, initial account funding, money movement, custodian fee file submission, and Financial Information eXchange (FIX) trading, Advyzon said.
When an advisor uses the integrated system and opens a new client account, it will automatically prefill the custodial application. The client can complete, review and sign the form though the client web portal, said Advyzon.