Cetera Financial Group wants to help 401(k) advisors get ahead of all but certain fiduciary requirements just around the corner.
To that end, the broker-dealer group announced Tuesday that it is finished developing the core of its comprehensive retirement plan solutions platform.
“Cetera’s ongoing investment in its retirement plan solutions offering demonstrates its commitment to helping its financial advisors with their retirement plan businesses, and provides another example of Cetera’s ability to utilize its resources and scale to make innovative services available to financial advisors across its network,” the company said in a statement.
Most recent releases and upgrades include:
- Successful rollout of Cetera’s Guided Retirement Solutions web portal to all of its broker-dealers
- Continued development of retirement plan data aggregation and practice management technology through the company’s strategic partnership with Envestnet
- Network-wide launch of Cetera’s integrated ERISA plan consulting team and Third Party Administrator (TPA)
- Further expansion of Cetera’s Retirement Practice Consulting team
- Successful rollout of industry-wide program to include many of the most prominent partners in the retirement plan industry.
“Winning and retaining retirement plan business requires specialized knowledge, skills and technology, especially with significant regulatory changes right around the corner,” said Brett Harrison, executive vice president for Advisor Growth at Cetera Financial Group and chief executive officer of Cetera Advisors. “Cetera Financial Group’s expanded retirement plan solutions platform positions our advisors to succeed in capturing these opportunities by providing them with the tools, training, and services they need to build or strengthen their retirement plan practices, including extensive support for advisors who function as fiduciaries or will be transitioning to the fiduciary model.”
One rollout, Cetera Retirement Plan Specialists, is an ERISA plan consulting firm and a dedicated third party administrator (TPA). Formerly known as First Allied Retirement Services and available only to First Allied advisors in the Cetera Financial Group network, the group is now integrated with Cetera advisors’ retirement services practices in order to help them address complex plan design and administration challenges, evaluate their existing TPA service providers, and win new retirement plan business.
With more than 20 years serving financial markets, John Sullivan is the former editor-in-chief of Investment Advisor magazine and retirement editor of ThinkAdvisor.com. Sullivan is also the former editor of Boomer Market Advisor and Bank Advisor magazines, and has a background in the insurance and investment industries in addition to his journalism roots.
