BISYS has launched its PrudentAdvisor program, a suite of services designed to support investment advisors’ retirement plan businesses.
PrudentAdvisor has been designed to help advisors attract and retain retirement plans by enabling advisors to meet increased standards for governance and disclosure. It allows advisors to create and support plans with more investment options, including full fee disclosure and flexibility of plan options. The program’s features and benefits extend an advisor’s capacity to serve plans of all sizes without increasing overhead.
BISYS designed PrudentAdvisor to work in tandem with investment advisors to provide plan sponsors and their participants with a retirement plan that features an open door policy and includes features such as retirement plan design; plan installation, maintenance and reporting; plan administration and recordkeeping services; and participant communication, education, and retirement planning tools.
With PrudentAdvisor, advisors have the ability to deliver complete fee transparency and objective investment selections. Administrative fees are collected by an independent third party and held in an administrative fee account for the plan. Plan sponsors may use this account to cover plan expenses, potentially resulting in a zero plan cost scenario. Excess amounts in the administrative fee account may also be allocated to plan participants or used to cover other plan-related expenses. All administrative fees in the account and expenses paid are fully reported to plan sponsors.
“Drawing on our experience and expertise in ERISA compliance, BISYS has developed the PrudentAdvisor program to assist investment advisors in handling new compliance and administrative requirements in today’s retirement plan arena. The program helps eliminate conflicts of interest and questions about why investments were selected because fees are fully disclosed,” said Christopher Guarino, president of BISYS Retirement Services. “From the point of sale and throughout the life of the plan, PrudentAdvisor suite of services gives advisors the means to respond to client demands. By outsourcing the middle and back-office needs to BISYS, advisors can put their full energy into building their businesses and strengthening client relationships.”