Corporate Roundup: CFP Board Launches Women’s Initiative, PensionBee Adds IRA Options
CFP Board Launches Women’s Initiative
CFP Board has announced the launch of Accelerate & WIN, a program designed to accelerate the growth, influence and leadership of women CFP professionals.
“Women’s moment in financial planning isn’t coming — it’s now,” said CFP Board Chair Liz Miller, CFP, CFA. “Accelerate & WIN won’t just open doors; it can reshape our profession.”
CFP Board will also host several women’s initiative webinars and a career-changers studio.
The first webinar, “Serving Women Clients: Addressing Unique Financial Challenges,” will be held on April 16 and will explore insights from recent CFP Board research and strategies for addressing the specific needs of women clients at every stage, whether they’re building wealth, managing life changes or navigating retirement.
A second webinar, “Women in Financial Planning,” will be held on October 25 and will feature interviews with women CFP professionals who will share their journeys into the industry, as well as key data points from recent CFP Board research.
Held in the fall, the CFP Pro Career Studio will be a live, three-part virtual event for women that aims to deepen potential career changers’ understanding of what financial planners do, answer questions through guidance from career changers and help them take their first steps to making a career change.
“Accelerating the growth of women in financial planning is about giving consumers the choice they deserve,” said CFP Board CEO Kevin R. Keller, CAE. “It equips the profession to meet the evolving needs of today’s clients.”
Accelerate & WIN will be led by Lisa Davis, JD, chief program officer and Jillien Meier, managing director of program development.
PensionBee Adds Roth, Traditional IRA Options
PensionBee, an online retirement provider, has announced the addition of Roth and Traditional IRA contribution capabilities to its mobile app. All users are eligible to make tax-advantaged contributions directly through the platform.
PensionBee’s U.S. app first launched in December 2024 and allows users to combine old workplace 401(k)s and IRAs into a modern retirement account. With this new update, customers can now top up retirement accounts with pre-tax and post-tax contributions from within the app.
“We launched in the U.S. intent on placing retirement control back into consumers’ hands,” said Romi Savova, CEO of PensionBee. “Enabling Roth and Traditional IRA contributions is the next step toward that goal, and a timely one, as U.S. consumers struggle against a backdrop of confusing retirement solutions.”
ARS, SS&C Partner on Lifetime Income Suite
SS&C Technologies Holdings, Inc. has announced that ARS, a guaranteed lifetime income solutions and technology provider for the defined contribution market, has partnered with SS&C Retirement Solutions to distribute and service its suite of Lifetime Income Builder retirement products.
ARS’ Lifetime Income Builder offers group fixed indexed annuities with a guaranteed lifetime withdrawal benefit. The guaranteed income products will be available to recordkeepers on SS&C’s Retirement Income Clearing & Calculation (RICC) Platform.
“The partnership between SS&C and ARS will help more Americans become retirement ready. By providing access to a solution with benefits participants expect—easy-to-use, professionally managed portfolios they control at all times—ensuring they will not run out of income in retirement,” said Joe Boan, chief distribution officer at ARS.
“To change the way Americans retire, we have to make it easier for recordkeepers to offer innovative solutions like Lifetime Income Builder,” added Abby Canfield, chief operating officer at ARS. “The integration of the Lifetime Income Builder-based solutions and ecosystem with the SS&C RICC platform enables this by creating seamless fund administration capabilities.”
ARS will gain access to distribution opportunities across recordkeeping platforms for its suite of target date funds integrated with Lifetime Income Builder. Recordkeepers can add Lifetime Income Builder funds to their offerings through their CUSIPs.
Lincoln Financial Launches Private Market Funds
Lincoln Financial is partnering with Bain Capital and Partners Group to launch two new private markets-focused funds. Lincoln expects the new offerings to be available in late 2025.
Bain Capital will partner with Lincoln Financial to provide investors access to an evergreen fund offering focused on a globally varied portfolio of private credit investments, including direct lending, asset-based finance, and structured credit.
Lincoln Financial is partnering with Partners Group to launch an evergreen fund that will provide access to a globally varied cross-sector private markets royalty portfolio. Partners Group will follow a relative value approach to invest across both well-established royalty sectors, such as intellectual property assets in the pharmaceutical and entertainment industries, and emerging high-growth sectors like energy transition, sports, and brands. The fund will look to employ a range of structures, including direct purchases of royalties, creating royalties, and lending against royalties.
“Private market investments have been a staple within the portfolios of institutional and high-net-worth investors for decades. However, in recent years, the demand from individual investors has increased as they seek access to the return potential and diversification benefits that private markets can bring to a well-diversified portfolio,” said Jayson Bronchetti, executive vice president, chief investment officer. “The private market investment strategies we have deployed through our multi-manager framework have enabled us to drive value within our own investment portfolios.”
Manulife Names Asia President and CEO
Steve Finch has been appointed President and CEO of Manulife Asia, effective May 9.
Finch succeeds Phil Witherington, who has been appointed Manulife’s president and CEO, also effective May 9.
Finch currently serves as Manulife’s chief actuary and has been a member of Manulife’s Executive Leadership team since 2016.
Previously, Finch served as the chief financial officer of John Hancock, Manulife’s US business, and prior to that, he served as the general manager of the company’s US Life Insurance business, leading the business to be the market leader in life insurance sales.
Finch has served in additional roles including in reinsurance, product development, and marketing across his tenure with Manulife. He is a graduate of Queen’s University and holds a bachelor’s degree in statistics. He is a fellow of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries and a fellow of the Society of Actuaries.
“Steve has helped deliver our transformation and drive strong financial performance, reshaping our portfolio towards higher return and lower risk and validating the prudence of our reserves,” said Roy Gori, president and CEO of Manulife. “We have bold ambitions for Asia, and his deep appreciation of our business at a commercial and functional level, strong knowledge of our products and distribution channels across Asia, and passion for leading teams will help accelerate our growth agenda for this critical part of our business.”
The successor for Chief Actuary will be announced in “due course” and “Finch will work with that leader to ensure a seamless transition,” according to Manulife.
Scranton Financial Group Rebrands
Scranton Financial Group is rebranding to Retirement Income Source SFG.
The rebrand will unify the company’s regional offices, which include Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire, under a shared identity.
“This rebrand represents our commitment to expanding our mission of enhancing the financial lives of people across the nation,” said David J. Scranton, founder and CEO of Retirement Income Source® SFG. “We believe that income-first investment strategies are the key to helping retirees achieve peace of mind, and this new branding reflects our dedication to delivering these solutions to even more individuals and families across the nation.”
Merit Partners with Sanctuary Wealth Management
Merit Financial Advisors, a Georgia-based financial advisory firm that specializes in financial planning and wealth management solutions for high-net-worth individuals and families and those navigating life transitions, has acquired Sanctuary Wealth Management, LLC and Fiduciary Services, LLC.
This acquisition enables Merit to establish a presence in Idaho and grow its assets collectively by $1.6 billion.
Sanctuary, in working with private clients, specializes in investment advisory and portfolio management. In addition to these services, the firm supports corporate clients with a range of retirement and investment solutions, including 401(k) plans. FS, which is a subsidiary of Sanctuary, specializes in employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) where they serve as transactional and ongoing ESOP trustees for clients.
Sanctuary’s partnership with Merit will enable the team to “enhance its back-office and administrative support and leverage Merit’s robust technology offerings for its clients,” according to a release on the partnership. Merit will also be able to expand its offering for corporate clients with the addition of ESOPs. All three owners of the firm, Brett Robison, Gene Clay Esplin, and Joel Phillips, will be taking on the role of wealth manager at Merit and will be joined by the rest of their team.
“We are incredibly optimistic about the future and the enhanced services we will be able to provide as a result of this merger,” said Brett. “Our collaboration with Merit opens up a world of possibilities, and we can’t wait to explore them with our clients.”
This is Merit’s thirty-fourth acquisition since taking a minority investment in December 2020 from Wealth Partners Capital Group (WPCG) and a group of strategic investors led by HGGC’s Aspire Holdings platform. This is also Merit’s second largest acquisition to date. Last month, Merit acquired Hershey Wealth Advisors, LLC, which expanded Merit’s assets by $233 million and added its fifth office in Pennsylvania.
The merger was finalized on March 14, 2025. Alaris Acquisitions, an M&A advisory firm specializing exclusively in the wealth management industry, acted as the advisor for this transaction. Financial and legal terms of the deal were not disclosed.
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