FMG Suite Adds AI-Powered Curator To Platform Content Library
FMG Suite, which produces a cloud-based marketing automation platform for financial services professionals, has expanded its platform components to include an artificial intelligence-powered engine that will be added to the FMG Suite content library, according to a spokesperson.

It’s called “Curator,” and it assists advisors in building stronger and more lasting relationships with both established and prospective clients, while automatically prescreening for compliance and managing broker-dealer approvals.

With just a few clicks, you’ll be sharing relevant, timely content from a curated stream of articles, delivered via e-mail or social media, that engages and informs your audience of established and prospective clients, while ensuring they remember you.

Over time, Curator tracks engagement to learn audience preferences and deliver relevant content. It also learns from your interests, so feel free to share hobbies, causes and other affinities that let you and your audience bond together.

Founded in 2011, FMG Suite is headquartered in San Diego.

Vanguard Partners With EQ To Offer 401(k) Equity Compensation Services
Vanguard is partnering with EQ U.S.A., a subsidiary of Equiniti Group PLC, to provide equity compensation services to 401(k) plan sponsors and their participants.

The partnership will enable employers to seamlessly integrate their employee equity compensation plans with their existing defined contribution plans and to provide participants with an intuitive, one-stop platform designed to simplify administration, streamline transactions and inform financial decisions.

Plan sponsors will have access to EQ’s technology platform, which features real-time financial analysis, modeling tools and support of multiple languages and currencies, all integrated within Vanguard’s existing participant web portal.

Redesigned in 2017, Vanguard’s personalized online participant experience provides capabilities such as the Retirement Readiness Tool and “Personalized Participant Journeys” intended to help participants balance their financial goals and save for the future.

Pershing Debuts Subscription Pricing For RIA Custody
Pershing, a BNY Mellon company based in Jersey City, N.J., that custodies over $800 billion in advisory assets, is now offering RIAs on its custody platform two new pricing offers: monthly subscription and zero-transaction-fee pricing.

In addition to Pershing’s existing variable pricing, the two new pricing offers provide advisory firms with choice, flexibility and transparency to better serve their clients, Pershing said.

Subscription-based pricing offers advisors a simplified, predictable approach to pricing, including a competitive investment choice for cash. Prices start as low as $25 per month, depending on the amount of assets.

Zero-transaction-fee pricing provides a low-cost solution for client portfolios heavily weighted toward equities and ETFs.

Variable pricing, which includes over 80 cash-sweep options, works best for clients with complex needs who benefit from customized asset or transaction-based pricing.

First Ascent Launches Resource Center For Investor Education
First Ascent Asset Management, a turnkey asset management program provider, has launched the Navigator Investor Education Resource Center to help advisors educate their clients on how to behave as successful investors.

The center provides material that advisors can use to educate their clients on the fundamentals of investing, as well as help them establish reasonable expectations as long-term investors.

Visitors to the First Ascent website can locate the center under the “Knowledge Center” tab. It includes what First Ascent calls “edu-docs,” as well as videos that cover a wide range of topics. The material is free and available to all advisors.

Raymond James Unveils New Program For Aspiring Financial Advisors
Raymond James, a diversified financial services company headquartered in St. Petersburg, Fla., has introduced its Wealth Management Associate Program (WealthMAP) to attract and train aspiring financial advisors.

WealthMAP provides an opportunity for professionals who want to explore a new career as a financial advisor but also want to gain more industry experience and knowledge before deciding to join Raymond James’s new, more formal Advisor Mastery Program.

The two-year introductory WealthMAP program prepares candidates to earn their Series 7 and Series 66 licenses, and to develop real-world financial planning skills through hands-on experience and home office training, branch and group coaching, and wealth planning and technology support. Successful program graduates will transition immediately into the Advisor Mastery Program.

Students enrolled in the inaugural WealthMAP class, which convened in January, participated in 20 of the firm’s branch locations. More than 70% of the class is diverse and over half come from a different field or are recent graduates.