FINANCIAL PROFILES ROLLS OUT DATA CONSOLIDATION TOOL: Software maker Financial Profiles Inc. has added a data consolidation tool to its flagship planning solution, Profiles+ Professional.
Profiles+ Matrix integrates data from multiple sources, such as enterprise back offices, banks, brokerages, insurors, mutual fund organizations and other information providers, and delivers it in real time via a secure Web service interface.
Enabling the Profiles+ Matrix functions in the Professional product lines adds approximately $250 per license per year.
WAGNER RECEIVES FPA AWARD: The Financial Planning Association has named Richard Wagner, CFP, as the recipient of the P. Kemp Fain Jr. Award for 2003.
The award recognizes an individual member who has made outstanding contributions to the financial planning profession in the areas of service to professional activities, society, academia or government, and upholds the FPA’s core values of integrity, competence, relationships and stewardship.
Wagner co-founded The Nazrudin Project, a think tank devoted to discussions and mutual support regarding the human and spiritual aspects of money and personal finance. He is currently working with Naropa University, in Boulder, Colo., to establish a course on “wealth, money and meaning.”
VANGUARD ADDS FUND EXPENSE INFO TO SHAREHOLDER REPORTS: In an investor-friendly move, the Vanguard Group said that it would provide information and data about mutual fund operating expenses in its 2003 shareholder reports. The move is in line with a recommendation made earlier this year by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Vanguard will devote a full page to a “plain talk” discussion of operating expenses, along with a table that shows the dollar cost that an investor would incur over the fund’s latest fiscal year, assuming a $10,000 investment and using the fund’s actual expenses and total return for the period.
The company has also developed an online cost calculator, at Vanguard.com, for investors to compare fund costs.
INVESTMENT MANAGERS EXPECT MAJOR CHANGES: A wave of fund consolidation and outsourcing, along with a shift from global expansion to niche market segmentation, will drive fundamental changes in the relationships among funds, distributors and service providers, according to a survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers.
One half of more than 70 asset management organizations surveyed expect up to a 30 percent reduction among funds over the next five years, driven largely by consolidation to further reduce costs and operational inefficiencies, PwC said. According to the report, the consolidation of funds, coupled with an explosion in off-shore outsourcing, is likely to result in a significant reduction in investment management industry jobs in all but low-cost jurisdictions, such as India.
Eighty-three percent of U.S. investment managers cited legal and regulatory issues as their greatest business challenge, ahead of market performance and evolving client needs.
CFP BOARD NAMES NEW GOVERNING AND SUBSIDIARY BOARD MEMBERS: Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc. has named new volunteer members to its governing and subsidiary boards for 2004.
The new members of the Board of Governors are Kelvin Boston, president of Boston Media, in Baltimore; David Strege, of Syverson, Strege, Sandager & Co., in Des Moines, Iowa; and Stewart Welch III, founder and managing member of The Welch Group, in Birmingham, Ala. Terms are for three years.
Laura Lee Addington, principal of the Addington Financial Group, in Greenville, Texas, and David Little, principal of Park Place Financial Advisors LLC, in Brattleboro, Vt., were named to the Board of Professional Review. The unit is responsible for interpreting and applying the code of ethics and practice standards, as well as imposing discipline as necessary.
John Jue, corporate vice president for advanced planning for New York Life, in Walnut Creek, Calif., and Jay Shein, chief executive of the Compass Financial Group Inc., in Lighthouse Point, Fla., were named to the Board of Examiners, which is responsible for the CFP Certification Exam, registration of university programs and continuing education, and administering the CFP Board’s grants and awards programs.
