The fastest growing broker-deal channel? Independents
'The wirehouses’ growth rates have lagged other broker-dealer channels’ over the past one and five years. However, this is for ‘retail’ assets. The opposite is true in the high...
BlackRock to acquire almost 5% of Envestnet
The partnership calls for BlackRock, Inc., to acquire a 4.9% equity stake in Envestnet by purchasing about 2.36 million shares of Envestnet common stock for about $122.8 million.
Honorable Mention
Milliman launches “Account Lock” for participants; Principal appoints new president of Retirement and Income Solutions; Wells Fargo offers retirement planning resources to participants; Two executive appointments at Northwestern Mutual;...
VA income deferral incentives are working: Ruark
Income commencement rates on guaranteed lifetime withdrawal benefits with 10-year deferral bonuses are highest in year 1 and in years 11+, with low commencement rates in between, according to...
Jackson to reinsure closed block of John Hancock annuities
The transaction involves Jackson indemnity reinsuring approximately $5.5 billion of statutory reserves, representing an increase in Jackson’s general account liabilities of approximately 10%.
Majority of Americans expect to use robo-advice by 2025
Almost 60% of Americans expect to use a robo advisor by 2025 and 45% say robo advice will be the technology that ultimately has the biggest impact on financial...
UBS ups its financial wellness game
The new content experience delivers videos, infographics, articles and “gamified” content to teach employees about planning, budgeting, saving, managing debt, investing, and retirement.
Dutch pensions face possible benefit cuts
The MSCI World index declined by 6.7% during October and the 30-year swap rate dropped almost three basis points, to 1.5%. Interest rates are crucial for discounting future pension...
Honorable Mention
Investors Heritage enters fixed annuity business, MassMutual names Carroll as new head of Workplace Distribution, TIAA Bank acquires leases and loans from GE Capital’s healthcare business.
Fixed annuities see year-over-year sales improvement: Wink
Indexed annuity sales increased by more than 2% in the third quarter of 2018, relative to the second quarter, but rose by 38% over the same period last year,...
Brand-strength of robos is still fairly weak: Cerulli
The latest issue of The Cerulli Edge-U.S. Retail Investor Edition details the efforts of 10 of the leading digital-focused financial advice platforms in establishing brand awareness among retail investors.
OregonSaves, a state-sponsored workplace IRA, welcomes ‘gig’ workers
Since the first wave of the program launched in November 2017, tens of thousands of workers have saved more than $9 million towards retirement, according to an OregonSaves release...
Britain test-drives “sidecar” accounts in state-run DC plans
Plan contributions above the auto-enrollment minimum (currently 8% of salary) will overflow into the sidecar savings account until the sidecar balance reaches £1,000. Subsequent contributions go to the retirement...
Hybrid vigor: Many RIAs like support from broker-dealers
'Among advisors who switched to the hybrid model in the past one to five years, only 23% would choose to drop their broker/dealer affiliation and move fully to the...
Britain’s DB plans roiled by gender equalization
The DB schemes of the UK’s 350 biggest listed companies showed a combined estimated deficit of £36bn (€41bn) on October 31, down from a £3bn aggregate surplus on September...
SEC fines Citibank $38m for mishandling ADRs
Citibank improperly pre-released ADRs to brokers in thousands of transactions, the SEC found, when neither the broker nor its customers had enough foreign shares. This led to inappropriate short selling...
Honorable Mention
RetireOne platform to offer Great American Index Protector 7 FIA; OneAmerica crosses $2bn mark in retirement plan sales; 401(k) balances reach new high-water marks: Fidelity; Empower offers new platform...
SEC proposes the use of shorter prospectuses for variable annuities
The Commission has requested public comment until February 15, 2019, on the proposed rule changes, as well as on hypothetical summary prospectus samples that it has published.
Income annuity tied to debit card with cash rewards is launched
You pay Guggenheim Life about $60,000 today, and it puts $1,000 on your debit card every month for the next five years. You average 7% cash-back on purchases with...
‘Roll-in’ specialist exceeds $4 billion in account consolidations
Retirement Clearinghouse works with plan sponsors, record-keepers, and participants to complete assisted rollovers, automatic rollovers, and both assisted and automatic roll-ins.
