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June 16, 2017 at 10:08 AM
- Cetera using tech to streamline insurance buying
- Research Affiliates relaunches asset allocation platform with more interactivity
- Commonwealth supporting financial advisors with award-winning IT department
- Compliance.ai launches AI-based regulatory library
Cetera Financial Institutions announced on Tuesday that it is rolling out a new portal designed to help its advisors simplify insurance purchasing for clients.
Clients will be able to research and purchase different insurance policies, including life, long-term care and disability. The new portal will reduce the amount of time it takes to process applications and aims to make case management more efficient for advisors.
Cetera partnered with Covr Financial Technologies, a Boise-based firm that connects consumers with financial institutions and advisors to purchase personal insurance policies online.
The portal will be branded for CFI and offered with Cetera’s SmartWorks advisor workstation, with plans to integrate with its MoneyGuidePro solution in July.
Cetera believes “converging trends are creating a new era in financial advice,” according to LeAnn Rummel, president of Cetera Financial Institutions. “It’s imperative that firms expecting to lead the industry in this new era embrace the latest tools and solutions that rewrite the rules of engagement between advisors and clients,” she said in a statement.
Rummel added, “Viewed in this strategic context, making insurance solutions more accessible and transparent will greatly enhance our advisors’ ability to provide the truly holistic planning and advice that clients need.”
(Related: New Cetera Tool Will Use Facial Recognition to Measure Client Emotions)
Research Affiliates announced on Thursday that it has relaunched its asset allocation platform with new functionality that lets users track investment information and return data across additional asset classes and in multiple currencies.
Users can now access information about 11 model portfolios and over 130 assets including real estate, hedge funds, and private equity investments, with results in the euro, British pound, Japanese yen and Australian dollar, as well as the U.S. dollar.
“One of the greatest challenges investors face today is an “expectations gap” between the returns that they hope to earn and the plausible returns of today’s low-yielding markets,” Rob Arnott, chairman and CEO of Research Affiliates, said in a statement.
John West, head of client strategies, added, “Asset allocation is not a one-size-fits-all endeavor. … Through our new Asset Allocation Interactive website, the user can evaluate risk through multiple lenses for a richer understanding of a portfolio’s potential journey. The result? A more informed decision that the end investor can stick with for the long term.”
