Investment Management: CFEBS Offers Training to Woo New Clients, and more.

CFEBS Offers Training to Woo New Clients

The Certified Federal Employee Benefits Specialist (CFEBS) training and certification program is helping financial planners woo new clients, U.S. federal government employees. "The opportunity in this market for financial planners is a goldmine," said Judy Snow founder of Federal Employee Benefits Specialist, Inc. (FEBSI) and developer of the CFEBS training and certification program, in a press release. "Thousands of federal employees have $500,000 or more invested in a 401(k)-like savings plan. These are funds that can be rolled over into other investment options at retirement," she added.

The CFEBS program equips financial planners, insurance agents, accountants, investment advisors, stock brokers, tax preparers, and other professionals with a thorough understanding of federal employee benefits and associated retirement planning. CFEBS training courses are offered by independent study or conducted on-site at financial service firms. Information on the CFEBS program can be found at www.FEBSI.com or by calling FEBSI at 1-800-696-3505.

New Report Says Asset Management Firms Will Form Outsourcing Consortia

Asset managers may soon be cooperating with one another to form a buying consortia, according to a new study by Vales Consulting Group and Tinervin Advisors. "We predict that a new wave of consortia buying will soon take place in the asset management sector, where competitors team up to leverage their combined purchasing power and negotiate long-term outsourcing contracts that further reduce their operating costs by 30-40 percent," said Joseph Vales, Senior Partner of the Vales Consulting Group and co-founder of the Reference Standards Board, in the press release. The study discusses the evolution of consortia buying in financial services and examine five major corporate outsourcing programs that illustrate the various ways that buyers and suppliers in financial services are collaborating in North America, Europe and Australia. It also analyzes consortia buying trends in six different segments of the asset management industry and identifies five developments driving consortia buying in the industry over the next five years.

"Given the increased regulatory compliance and reporting requirements, plus the growing expectations and demands of investors, it is clear that the costs related to the manufacture, distribution, and servicing of assets will become too great a burden for those firms that lack the scale, operational band-width, processing efficiencies and deep pockets to fund new infrastructures and technologies," added Richard Tinervin, founder and Managing Partner, Tinervin Advisors, in the release. "Participating in buying consortia to leverage the power of outsourcing will become the only viable option for many of these firms."