Product Watch: Schwab adds a pair of tools for plan administrators

Charles Schwab Corporate Services in San Francisco, a subsidiary of Charles Schwab Corp., has introduced two software applications designed to improve retirement plan administration and participant servicing.

Schwab RT Web and Schwab RT Call Center can help plan administrators expand client service. The Schwab Retirement Technologies unit developed the new products.

Schwab RT Web features tools for customizing the appearance, content and structure of clients’ retirement plan websites.

Through Schwab RT Web, administrators can also offer online financial planning tools, including Morningstar ClearFuture and MasteryPOINT Financial Analyzer.

Bullrun software monitors portfolios

* Bullrun Financial Inc. in Lawrenceville, N.J., has released Bullrun Edge, web-based software that enables investment advisers to monitor portfolios.

It analyzes how and why a portfolio performs in a particular way.

Pricing module for Trema Finance

* Trema Group, a financial software provider based in Sophia Antipolis, France, has launched a front-office pricing module, Pricing KIT.

It gives users of Trema Finance KIT access to the price of any financial instrument handled by that product and facilitates comparisons of market quotes.

System signals futures traders

* The financial markets website ADVFN has created a mini electronic “buy” and “sell” signal system, iQuant.

Available on the ADVFN site and developed by Quantigma Ltd. of Guildford, Surrey, England, the iQuant system generates real-time intraday signals for E-Mini S&P 500 futures to give traders clear “buy” and “sell” signals.

It is available to investors for $199 a month when they register on the ADVFN site.

It provides real-time charting interface of the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index.

Using a combination of technical and quantitative analysis, the back-tested system produces real-time “buy” and “sell” signals. The site is operated by ADVFN PLC of Barking, Essex, England.

Hancock adds tools to boost life sales

* Signator Financial Network, a Boston-based affiliate of John Hancock Life Insurance Co., has launched a major training and marketing effort to help its field representatives increase life insurance sales.

A key component of this effort is the distribution of a new selling system, the Advocacy System, and a financial-needs-analysis tool, Profiles+Forecaster, to all Signator field offices.

The Advocacy System teaches producers a sales approach to help them position their practices for life sales, while Profiles+Forecaster provides a tool for gathering facts about clients’ financial situations and goals.

Manulife USA tweaks website

* The Manufacturers Life Insurance Co. (U.S.A.) in Boston (Manulife USA) has enhanced its website, manulife.com/usinsurance.

The redesigned site delivers more information in an easily accessible format that makes navigation intuitive for users of the adviser portal, SalesNet, and the policyholder portal, ServiceNet.

One of the most apparent changes to the home page is the inclusion of comprehensive investment information.

To provide greater access to up-to-date fund data, new pages deliver current performance values for both Manulife USA’s investment platform and the Venture variable-life-product portfolio, along with prospectuses, a fund overview and quarterly fund sheets. A new claims section has also been added.