CEFEX Offers New Way For Plan Sponsors, Investors To Document Selection And Monitoring Of Service Providers
PITTSBURGH, June 26, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- CEFEX is pleased to announce a new way for plan sponsors, investment committee members and individual investors to obtain due diligence reports on their advisors and service providers. The new CEFEX Independent Assessment Report (IAR) contains a description of CEFEX's rigorous annual assessment including the standard and assessment methodology applied, the date and the people involved.
"In light of the SEC's recently proposed Regulation Best Interest, where generic disclosures suggest that all financial advice providers are pretty much the same, the IAR verifies and distinguishes outstanding advisors," said Blaine Aikin, Executive Chairman, CEFEX and Fi360. "The report is a printed record of the advisor's adherence to a true fiduciary standard and hence the worthiness of the trust and confidence placed in them."
For plan sponsors, the IAR offers a unique method to document the selection and monitoring of their service providers, thereby helping them fulfill their fiduciary obligations. The IAR serves as a comprehensive expert analysis, which should be stored in their fiduciary file as a permanent record. For individual investors, the IAR provides assurance that their advisor has been asked the difficult questions required to make a prudent choice in the management of their savings.
The IAR is a feature exclusively available to CEFEX certified advisors in the US and internationally, Third Party Administrators and recordkeepers to help communicate the significance of the CEFEX assessment to clients. The new reports are available for renewal assessments conducted after May 1, 2019.
Modeled after ISO (International Organization for Standardization) certifications, CEFEX is known as the 'good housekeeping seal of approval' for investment fiduciaries and fiduciary support firms. These firms voluntarily undertake the annual assessment, with the intention of demonstrating adherence to the highest practice standards.
The CEFEX assessment is based on the standard described in the handbook: "Prudent Practices for Investment Advisors", recently updated by Fi360 Inc. In the case of recordkeepers and Third Party Administrators, it is based on the Standard for Retirement Plan Service Providers published by CEFEX and the American Society for Pension Professionals and Actuaries (ASPPA).
According to the Department of Labor, retirement plan fiduciaries can limit their liability by implementing prudent practices including establishing a prudent process, maintaining records and documenting decisions. In the case of US advisors, the IAR can include the legal substantiation for the fiduciary practices assessed.
For CEFEX certified firms, there is no incremental cost or effort required to use this feature. The IAR can be downloaded for a CEFEX certified firm from the CEFEX website.
A sample of the IAR for advisors is available here and for recordkeepers, here.
For more information please contact Carlos Panksep, Managing Director CEFEX, CEFEX at 416-693-9733 or cpanksep@cefex.org.
About CEFEX(®):
CEFEX, Centre for Fiduciary Excellence, LLC, an Fi360(®) company, is an independent certification organization. CEFEX works closely with industry experts to provide comprehensive assessment programs to improve the fiduciary practices of investment stewards, advisors, recordkeepers, administrators and managers. CEFEX is based in Pittsburgh, PA. Connect to CEFEX via Twitter or LinkedIn.
About Fi360(®):
Fi360, a fiduciary education, training and technology company, helps financial intermediaries use prudent fiduciary practices to profitably gather, grow and protect investors' assets. Since 1999, the firm has provided financial professionals with the tools necessary to act as a fiduciary in their work with investors. Headquartered in Pittsburgh, PA, Fi360 is the home of the Accredited Investment Fiduciary(®) (AIF(®)) designation, the Fiduciary Focus Toolkit((TM)) and the Fi360 Fiduciary Score(®). Fi360 is also the parent company of CEFEX. Learn more at www.Fi360.com via Twitter or on LinkedIn
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SOURCE CEFEX
