Practice

Bowing to concerns about the costs of compliance, the Securities and Exchange Commission is trying to figure out just how much broker-dealers, transfer agents and banks must spend to track down owners of unclaimed securities accounts before it issues a new rule.

One of the challenges that we have as professionals is motivating our clients to do their estate planning. Our new television special titled "Trial & Heirs: Protect Your Family Fortune!" debuts tonight and we think it will help motivate your clients to take the necessary estate planning steps that many have put off for far too long.

BlackRock has added 10 index funds to its retirement platform, nine of them the target-date BlackRock LifePath Index Portfolios and the 10ths the All Country World Index ex-U.S. Fund. The new LifePath Index Portfolios extend the investment horizon out by 44 years, with the funds having target dates of 2020, 2025, 2030, 2035, 2040, 2045, 2050 and 2055.

Even before the events surrounding the U.S. debt ceiling deal and downgrade, affluent investors’ concerns about how long their retirement assets will last was rising, according to a new Bank of America Merrill Lynch survey conducted in June.

Securian Retirement has added 12 investment choices to its retirement platform, including funds from AllianceBernstein, Nuveen, Manning & Napier and Pax World. With these additions, the platform how offers an array of 120 investments for participants and plan sponsors.

Rather than focus on the traditional notion of saving for retirement, asset management firms serving affluent investors with a minimum of $100,000 to invest and who are between the ages of 40 and 60 should understand that most of these people never intend to leave the workforce, according to Hearts & Wallets.

BNY Mellon this week said it will expand its treasury services group's electronic billing and payment processing services to include notifications via SMS text messaging to clients' mobile devices.

Making estate planning decisions can sometimes bring up uncomfortable topics for clients, but Holly Thomas, the founder of Holly P. Thomas, LLC, in Tampa, Fla., said it's a vital part of any financial plan.

OppenheimerFunds is paying $100 million to settle a class-action lawsuit against two of its funds, the Oppenheimer Champion and the Oppenheimer Core Bond funds

The Securities and Exchange Commission in late July voted unanimously to require large trading firms to identify themselves, so their market activities can be tracked (see Money Management Executive, 8/1/11, page 4).