New software helps fund operators with taxing situation
Just as individuals are hurrying to calculate their 2010 taxes, chief financial officers and corporate tax managers are beginning to plan for the 2011 tax season.
Broadridge, a technology services company that supports proxy services for over 90% of North American's public companies and mutual funds, has debuted its Multi-State Tax Management solution, which simplifies the process of collecting data for state taxes. The program is intended for managers of mutual funds and ETFs.
The program collects, organizes and charts shareholder account data across distribution channels in all 50 states without revealing individual shareholder information.
"Until now, a mutual fund or ETF could only estimate aggregate shareholder positions and not effectively calculate the positions by state," said Gerard Scavelli, president, Mutual Fund Solutions, Broadridge, calling this a "real industry problem".
The software repeatedly collects and calculates data about due taxes. By determining average asset holdings and comparing it to state taxes, it apportions income earned for a particular fund per state, according a March press release. The information is then displayed on a dashboard to review the position of the assets and state income and tax obligations.
Broadridge is the producer of the Access Data product suite for enterprise data management. Access Data Corp. provides analysis and reporting for over 50 mutual fund firms and ETF sponsors.
E*Trade members get an exclusive social network
E*Trade, the online brokerage, has introduced E*Trade Community, a social network for the investment community.
E*Trade customers can create customized member profiles and upload photographs, share trading activity and account performance, and explain their long-term investment objectives, The platform is available to most E*Trade customers with retail brokerage accounts, and available for viewing by anyone with an E*Trade account who wishes to gain perspective on successful investment strategies without sharing his or her own portfolio information.
Members can also take a quick look at the 25 top performing profiles and E*Trade's most active and widely held stocks. The platform also gives users the ability to gauge real-time views on the bullishness or bearishness of the current market.
And just like on Facebook, members can start conversation threads in order to opinionate on buy, sell and hold opinions on individual stocks.
If you are an E*Trade member and want to join the party, visit www.etrade.com/community.
Vestmark hits mark
Vestmark has reached a benchmark of $200 billion managed on its proprietary technology platform. Over the past year, its managed assets have leaped by more than $100 billion, a combination of contributions from new clients as well as net asset growth from existing clients.
The Vestmark platform supports all portfolio types, including discretionary and non-discretionary accounts, unified managed accounts, and unified managed households, and connects them to a network of custodians and “straight-through” trade contacts.
Money managers may configure Vestmark's products for multiple style portfolios (MSP), unified managed account (UMA), unified managed household (UMH) and open architecture programs.
ARC Logic arc expanded to include B-Ds, advisers
Navigating compliance rules is tricky, especially when it crosses state borders and different regulatory regimes. Wolters Kluwer Financial Services knows a thing or two about this, as it has offices in twenty countries.
The company has expanded ARC Logics for Financial Services, its enterprise risk management platform, in a bid to market the product to the securities industry.
Developed for risk and compliance professionals at broker-dealers, advisers, and hedge funds, it promises to be an intuitive program that incorporates Wolters Kluwer audit, policy, compliance, and risk-management services to help advisers better evaluate enterprise risk.
The program consolidates a “Compliance Resources Network”, which combines securities law, regulations, and professional commentary with a “Policies and Procedures” solution to monitor regulatory changes. Basically, it collects and maintains voluminious compliance manuals for employees.
Finally, the new ARC Logics generates risk reports for management, shareholders and regulators.
To learn more, visit www.wolterskluwerfs.com.
