Advisor Group on Tuesday unveiled platform enhancements to create competitive advantages for its advisors in what it is calling the "Fiduciary Era."
Key elements in the new platform strategy include continuing to support commission-based business with improved pricing on its brokerage platform and enhancing the market-leading advisory platform by reducing fees and charges. The new strategy also includes a new advisory product and a new platform for commission accounts.
The platform changes are designed to offer Advisor Group's advisors an advantage regardless of whether the Department of Labor's fiduciary rule lives, dies or gets altered significantly.
Advisor Group is one of the nation's largest networks of independent financial advisory firms, comprising SagePoint Financial, FSC Securities Corp., Woodbury Financial and Royal Alliance, with more than 5,000 advisors and $160 billion under advisement on its platform.
"We are making a major investment in our advisors' futures because we believe in their potential for growth when provided with the right platform, tools and pricing to serve the unique needs of all clients. We are squarely in their corner, standing behind them every step of the way," Jamie Price, Advisor Group president & CEO, said in a statement. "This is an inflection point in our industry that provides us with an unprecedented opportunity to differentiate ourselves and help our advisors to do the same."
The new advisory product, called the "Genesis Series", will give clients access to institutional strategists such as Vanguard, American Funds and iShares at lower minimums powered by Envestnet PMC research.
In addition, the group is introducing a new mutual fund only, no-transaction fee platform for commission accounts eliminating IRA custody and transaction fees to allow advisors and clients to more easily consolidate household assets onto the brokerage platform.
