Investment Product and Service Launches

Ascensus Announces Spring 2024 Launch of American Funds PEP Solution

Ascensus announced it will begin offering the Ascensus | American Funds Pooled Employer Plan solution on its independent, open-architecture recordkeeping platform in spring 2024.

“We’re delighted to partner with Capital Group, home of American Funds, to offer the significant benefits and flexibility our PEP program provides,” Jason Crane, head of distribution for Ascensus Retirement, said in a statement. “Capital Group shares our goal to help more savers save more and our commitment to offering a full product continuum to meet customer needs.”

According to the announcement, the American Funds PEP will be the first plan to offer American Funds Target Date Plus, powered by Morningstar Investment Management LLC, as a qualified default investment alternative. This investment solution creates a unique portfolio matching a participant’s financial needs more closely than a traditional target-date fund allocation determined only by age.

“After watching the PEP market evolve over the last several years and listening closely to advisors who desired a pooled plan offering, we are pleased to announce this partnership with Ascensus,” Mike Bockstie, senior vice president of institutional retirement sales at Capital Group, said in a statement. 

Wilshire Advisors LLC will serve as the PEP’s 3(38) investment fiduciary.

Allspring Global Investments Introduces Custom SMA Portal

Allspring Global Investments, an independent global asset management firm, announced the launch of a custom SMA portal for advisers.

The portal is an extension of Remi, Allspring’s multi-asset, custom SMA and direct indexing platform that enables financial advisers to customize portfolios to meet clients’ needs. Within the portal, advisers input client preferences—including objectives—and then receive a tailor-made investment proposal based on their clients’ financial goals, risk profile and tax considerations.

Included on the Remi platform are several investment strategies across different asset classes allowing for multiple accounts per strategy—each customized and tax-managed to a client’s objectives.

“Custom SMAs and direct indexing are some of the fastest-growing products right now, and Remi offers financial advisors and their clients a fully customizable platform with holistic tax management and a simplified transition process,” Manju Boraiah, head of fixed income and custom SMA investments at Allspring, said in a statement. “The online portal is one of many benefits enabled by Remi’s cloud technology. Through this new platform, wealth managers can request transition portfolio proposals for all Remi strategies.”

Capital Group Unveils Adviser Benchmark Service

Capital Group has launched Your Growth Plan, an adviser benchmark service.

The service uses insights from Capital Group’s “Pathways to Growth,” a multi-year national adviser benchmark study. It then establishes a benchmark, assessing the relationship between practice management behaviors and practice growth.

Financial professionals first fill out a survey and, upon completion, receive a downloadable, 20-page, personalized report based on their responses. The report includes strategies to help leverage key growth drivers, along with strengths and areas of opportunity.

“This service represents a significant leap forward for financial professionals seeking to thrive in an increasingly competitive environment,” Mike Van Wyk, director of customer research and insights at Capital Group, said in a statement. “Regardless of whether you are a small-, medium- or large-sized firm, the tool harnesses multiple years of data to benchmark your practice against your peer group.”

Breckinridge Adds Corporate, Municipal Bond Investment Options 

Breckinridge Capital Advisors announced new customizations will be comprised of bonds selected from investment-grade issuers. Each capability has a differentiated investment approach:

The Net Zero Customization seeks to allocate capital to bonds issued by corporations pursuing plans to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions from operations by 2050;

The Tax-Efficient Climate Vulnerability Customization seeks to allocate capital to issuers that face heightened physical climate risk and that serve communities with older infrastructure or lower income residents; and

The Tax-Efficient Community Needs Customization seeks to direct capital to generally underserved areas for essential service infrastructure, such as water and sewer projects. 

“Our corporate climate transition risk framework is not a divestment approach, but rather a data-driven, quantitative analysis of the decarbonization progress companies are making on their pathways to net zero emissions,” Peter Coffin, founder and president of Breckinridge Capital Advisors, said in a statement. “Leveraging that data, as well as qualitative research and engagement with bond issuers, we can customize a portfolio that responds to growing interest in net zero investing.” 

Blueprint Income Now Offers Fixed-Index Annuities Fully Online

Blueprint Income LLC announced it is now offering fixed-index annuities on its curated marketplace.

Blueprint Income customers can compare a curated list of FIAs in one place. The solution is intended to offer a blend of stability and growth potential.

With these annuities, customers have access to growth potential and also receive protection from loss during volatile markets, in addition to other annuity benefits such as tax-deferred growth.

“Our mission at Blueprint Income is to make annuities accessible to all investors looking to achieve financial security in retirement,” Ricardo Diaz, head of Blueprint Income, said in a statement. “We believe that FIAs provide investors access to a unique combination of safety and growth potential and is the perfect complement to other types of annuities already available on our platform.”