Products February 24, 2023

Investment Product and Service Launches

Hub starts global risk solutions practice; FPA offers courses to address gaps in advisers elderly financial planning knowledge; and more.

Reported by

Hub Launches Global Risk Solutions Practice

Hub International announced the launch of a global risk solutions practice to provide insurance and risk advisory services to multinational and global clients.

William Mulé, HUB executive vice president, will lead Hub’s Global Risk Practice and work alongside Mary-Beth Hahn, HUB complex risk practice deader, according to the Chicago-based firm.

“HUB’s Global Risk Practice extends our services and offerings to support clients who continue to expand and operate across borders where risk is becoming more complex,” Marc Cohen, president & CEO of HUB, said in a statement.

The new practice, along with global partners, will specialize in managing complex risk across North America and in over 100 territories throughout Europe, Asia, Oceania, Africa, the Middle East and South America.

FPA Starts Courses for Advisers Working with Elder Clients

Financial Planning Association, a trade association for Certified Financial Planner professionals, is partnering with elder planning specialists Plan4Life LLC to offer a 10-week online program for financial planners working with aging clients.

Plan4Life LLC founders Annalee Kruger and Bob Mauterstock have provided the curriculum that will be offered in rotating classes starting on March 27.

“Aging not only impacts those who are getting older, but also has an impact on those families and caregivers who want to ensure their loved ones are properly taken care of,” James Lee, FPA President, said in a statement. “Financial planners are in a unique position to provide empathetic support and guidance, but that means they need to understand the many issues older Americans face.”

The program includes a real-life case study format, weekly lectures by nationally recognized experts, tools and resources, and a marketing plan to differentiate those completing the program. Guest experts will cover critical areas of elder planning, including legal planning, long-term care planning, end-of-life planning, and running family meetings.

The program qualifies for 10 CFP® CE credits and is available to FPA members for $1,195 and nonmembers for $1,495.

Cambridge Financial Launches Private Client Solutions Offering

Financial solutions firm Cambridge, which supports 3,800 financial professionals, has launched a service for advisers to support high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth clients.

Cambridge’s Private Client Solutions will provide advisers with tools including investment management, tax and estate planning, cash management strategies, and wealth protection and legacy planning, according to the Fairfield, Iowa-based firm.

“Cambridge is pleased to leverage our scale and cross-functional expertise to meet financial professionals’ expanding needs in the high-net-worth space through our Private Client Solutions offering,” Jeff Vivacqua, president of growth and development, said in a statement. “Serving high-net-worth clients today requires a truly integrated, firm-wide approach.”

Orion Launches Free Learning Platform for Fiduciary Advisors

Orion Advisor Solutions, a wealth management solutions provider for fiduciary advisers, has launched Orion Advisor Academy, an on-demand learning platform for advisers to improve and grow their businesses while earning continuing education (CE) credits.

Dr. Daniel Crosby, Orion’s chief behavioral officer, has created the program to provide a mix of courses and practical training for running a successful fiduciary advisory firm taught at no charge.

Advisers can access a wide range of courses for leadership, marketing, financial planning, behavioral finance, investing, and operational processes.

Evermore Capital Inc. to Close Evermore Retirement ETFs

Asset manager Evermore Capital Inc. will be terminating eight of its exchange-traded funds at the close of business on Wednesday, April 26, 2023.

The Evermore retirement ETFs will not accept further subscription orders for units of the ETFs after the close of business on Monday, April 10, 2023. The ETFs are expected to be de-listed from the NEO Exchange, at the request of the manager, at the close of business on or about Monday, April 24, 2023, with all units still held by investors being subject to a mandatory redemption as of the termination date.

Any remaining unitholders of the terminated ETFs will receive the net proceeds from the liquidation of the assets, less all liabilities and all expenses incurred in connection with the dissolution of the terminated ETFs, on a pro rata basis. 

Administration February 24, 2023

Form 5500 Changes for 2023

The Department of Labor has published the Form 5500 changes for this year.

Reported by

The Department of Labor announced its annual revisions to Form 5500 Thursday.

The DOL updates Form 5500 annually to keep it up-to-date with various regulatory changes. All employee benefit plan sponsors are required to file a 5500 to the IRS and DOL annually. The form discloses information about a plan’s finances and operation. The forms are required under Title I and IV of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 and are used both to ensure compliance by and to gather data on pension plans.

Get more!  Sign up for PLANSPONSOR newsletters.

The changes for 2023 included a consolidated Form 5500 option for certain defined contribution plans; improved reporting for pooled employer plans and multiple employer plans; a change in methodology for identifying small plans for reporting purposes; improvements in reporting by PBGC-covered defined benefit plans on Schedules R and SB; the addition of Internal Revenue Code compliance questions to improve tax compliance; and technical adjustments that address changes made by the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022.

For determining which plans are under the 100-participant threshold and considered small plans, plans now count only participants that have account balances at the start of the plan year. Previously, plans had to count all employees eligible to participate in the plan.

The changes to Form 5500 for 2023 also implement changes included in the SECURE Act of 2019 that take effect this year. Specifically, the DOL and IRS were required to modify Form 5500 so that members of group DC plans may file a single, aggregated report which satisfies both ERISA and the IRC.

Form 5500 was also modified to implement SECURE Act changes which created PEPs. To do this, a new schedule, Schedule MEP will be added. According to the DOL, many PEP-specific questions have been streamlined based on input from public commenters.

The DOL projects that the simplifications made to reporting for 2023 will save the retirement industry about $95 million this year.

 “Mock-ups of the forms and instructions will be available on www.reginfo.gov as part of the Paperwork Reduction Act clearance process,” the DOL announcement stated. “The normal release of ‘for information-only’ copies of the forms and instructions will happen later in 2023.”

«