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Fiserv Acquires AdviceAmerica, Expands Front-Office Applications

Posted on June 7, 2010 by in Software

Long-time subscribers to FPPad my remember my review of ClientVision CRM from AdviceAmerica of Fremont, Calif. back in February 2009.

Earlier today I received an alert that Fiserv, Inc., a financial services technology solution provider, announced its acquisition of AdviceAmerica and will add the company to its Investment Services unit.

Click here to read the press release from Fiserv.

Overall, I liked ClientVision for its simpler user interface and easy learning curve. After all, ClientVision integrated inside Microsoft Outlook, so if advisors know how to navigate Outlook, they can navigate ClientVision.

The press release didn’t mention ClientVision specifically, but I assume that the CRM will continue to be supported under Fiserv’s management.

Let’s hope that the folks managing ClientVision can throw in that global search feature that I talked about in my review. That combined with the low price point would make a capable entry-level CRM for many advisers.

ByAllAccounts and Tamarac Announce Partnership

Posted on June 7, 2010 by in General

Two technology vendors that have been featured on FPPad before, ByAllAccounts and Tamarac, today announced a partnership to add ByAllAccounts’ account aggregation capabilities to the Tamarac Advisor® integrated portfolio platform.

Click here to read the press release ByAllAccounts and Tamarac Deliver All-in-one Platform for Financial Advisors to Streamline Operations and Workflow.

Read More…

Weitzman Sentenced To 97 Months In Prison; Be Vigilant Against Fraud

Posted on May 28, 2010 by in Compliance

FPPad has followed the story of Matthew Weitzman beginning in April 2009 when charges of “certain irregularities in a limited number of client accounts” were brought against him.

See our previous entries:

According to Ron Leiber at the New York Times (Ron and his family were former clients of Weitzman), Weitzman was  sentenced to 97 months in prison yesterday.

Click here to read the entry in the New York Times Bucks blog.

Again, I can only stress how important it is to have clearly defined processes as to how your firm fights fraud. Take the opportunity to tell clients what you do and how you keep staff responsible for the safeguarding of client assets. A dose of proactive communication can go a long way when so many stories are being published about advisers accused of stealing from their clients.

A Lesson in Paperless Documents: Electronic Boarding Passes

Posted on May 27, 2010 by in General

Going paperless doesn’t always guarantee success. I almost learned this the hard way when I nearly missed my return flight from Denver last Sunday.

As I checked in for my flight from Denver to DFW, I thought I would be environmentally conscious and use an electronic boarding pass on my iPad. I checked in online with my carrier and easily saved the boarding pass image to my iPad.

When I arrived at the airport, I waited in the security line for about 20 minutes only to find out that TSA was having no success reading electronic boarding passes from my carrier. TSA said I had to get a paper boarding pass and go back through security. Only at 6:30pm on a Sunday evening, the check in counter was closed and the kiosk wouldn’t reprint paper passes for flights departing in 45 minutes or less!

I ended up running down to baggage claim, found an employee, and received a paper boarding pass. I ran back to security, ran to my gate, all the while hearing my name over the airport paging system with the dreaded words “final boarding call…” I made my flight with just 2 minutes to spare.

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Meeting of the FPA® NexGen Community This Weekend

Posted on May 20, 2010 by in General

I’m flying to Colorado tomorrow morning to connect with the FPA® NexGen community in Estes Park. This will be my third NexGen conference out of the last five (I seem to attend in every even-numbered year).

I look forward to reconnecting with many of my peers and making new friendships with other young advocates of the financial planning profession.

I don’t expect to have widespread Wifi coverage, so there won’t be much live-tweeting from the conference. Still I hope to return and present some of the important discussion topics and takeaways from the meeting of young and motivated advisers in the profession.

[Image credit: elgringospain]

Black Diamond Inks Deal with Shareholders Service Group

Posted on May 10, 2010 by in Technology

Update: Brooke Southall and his team at RIABiz posted an article today discussing the partnership in more detail. Read it by clicking here.

Another custodian has formed a partnership to increase its technology offerings to affiliated advisers.

Shareholders Service Group (SSG) of San Diego, Calif. announced today that it is partnering with Black Diamond Performance Reporting of Jacksonville, Fla. to deliver its industry leading, web-based portfolio management and reporting system through the SSG platform.

Click here to view the press release for the Black Diamond and SSG partnership (Yahoo! News).

Read More…

Upcoming Financial Adviser Webcast Series: Guide to Going Digital

Posted on May 10, 2010 by in Compliance, Professional Development

I joined a fantastic team at Revenue Architects to deliver a series of financial adviser webcasts to help advisers accelerate their online presence.

Revenue Architects is an expert network of independent marketing, sales, and technology professionals aligned to support the diverse needs for adviser revenue performance. All the details of Revenue Architects can be viewed on their website, http://www.revenuearchitects.com/

I’m presenting the Guide to Going Digital webcast with John Stone, CEO of Revenue Architects, on Tuesday, June 08, 2010 from 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM (ET). The webcast details can be viewed here: http://www.revenuearchitects.com/events-and-webcasts/

FPPad readers are eligible for a 10% discount off the webcast registration. Enter the code FPPadDigital to receive your discount. The code is valid for all four of the events in the Financial Adviser Webcast series.

I hope you consider joining the webcast if you’re serious about growing your presence in the rapidly evolving digital world.

Smarsh, Socialware Partner to Command Social Media Compliance Market

Posted on May 4, 2010 by in Compliance

I’d like to be able to say that I saw this coming, but that’s not entirely the case.

Today, Smarsh, Inc. the leading email archive solution provider to financial advisers, and Socialware, a provider of social media archive and policy enforcement tools, announced a partnership to combine their respective technologies to provide one solution for messaging and social media governance and compliance.

Click here to view the press release on Smarsh’s website.

I’ve written about both Smarsh and Socialware before, and while each company’s products could help advisers comply with regulatory requirements when using social media, neither offered an all-in-one solution. Smarsh dominates the archiving market, but lacks coverage in the social media space. Socialware commands the social media space, but doesn’t specialize in compliant archiving.

So I view the partnership as a very promising relationship in support of an all-in-one social media compliance solution to satisfy FINRA and SEC regulatory requirements.

I hope to be able to check out the offering in the future and report back on its capabilities (either here or in my other media outlets).

Read My First Practices Column in the Journal of Financial Planning

Posted on May 3, 2010 by in Professional Development

I had the privilege of being asked to contribute to the Practices series of this month’s Journal of Financial Planning. The Journal of Financial Planning is the core publication of the Financial Planning Association with the mission to expand the body of knowledge of the financial planning profession.

For my first column, I described many of the best tools and techniques planners and advisers can use to roll out a successful social media strategy.

Click here to read Tools and Techniques to Leverage Social Media (link is good only for the month of May).

I always appreciate comments and feedback, so please let me know what you think by leaving a comment below.