Get more! Sign up for PLANSPONSOR newsletters.
Products September 17, 2013
Acquisition Will Help Retirement Income Education Initiative
September 17, 2013 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – CANNEX has entered into an agreement to acquire The QWeMA (Quantitative Wealth Management Analytics) Group Inc., a developer of intellectual property and educational software for the financial services and retirement industry.
Reported by Rebecca Moore
CANNEX is an independent provider of data and information services to the financial services industry in the U.S. and Canada. As part of the agreement, Dr. Moshe A. Milevsky, founder of QWeMA, will join the CANNEX board and oversee scientific research activities. All QWeMA employees and business activity will relocate to CANNEX headquarters.
CANNEX will form a new business unit dedicated to original research and development, as well as the continued maintenance and servicing of QWeMA’s existing product allocation (PrARI) and analytical (NUMERICS) software tools. The new business unit will retain the name, QWeMA, and will be led by Faisal Habib, who previously served as COO of QWeMA.
QWeMA will contribute to the launch of three CANNEX initiatives to benefit the company’s main constituencies (product manufacturers, advisers/distributors, and consumers/media) in the following ways:
1. Product allocation services will provide models for the allocation of insurance, annuity and investment products in order to maintain sustainable cash flows for retirement income. These tools will provide guidance on optimal spending rates and annuity product choices;
2. Valuation services will provide models and consulting to help answer questions such as: “What is my annuity policy worth?” or “Should I turn on my annuity’s living benefit?”; and
3. Historical data and payout indices to support annuity research, product development and personal finance reporting and education.
Lowell Aronoff, CEO of CANNEX, said, “The two companies are a perfect fit because we share similar philosophies about the need for education and awareness about how all types of annuities fit into retirement plans. QWeMA produces unparalleled research and tools that can help CANNEX augment the data-driven services we currently offer our clients and help us execute on our long term goal to improve consumers’ retirement income outcomes.”
More information about QWeMA is at www.qwema.ca, and more information about CANNEX is at www.cannex.com.