Pershing

Business Challenge

The Department of Labor’s Fiduciary Rule significantly impacts Pershing’s broker-dealer clients, and many of these clients now require all new mutual fund business to be conducted on Pershing’s brokerage platform. Additionally, many clients are transferring their legacy held direct-to-fund mutual fund business to brokerage accounts. Benefits to the broker dealers include: operational efficiencies gained by streamlining the review and approval workflows for new business, better compliance and oversight controls, and an improved investor experience.

Identifying the direct held mutual funds that are eligible to be moved and providing a streamlined experience to allow the initiation and completion of the transfer has historically proven quite challenging. Consolidating all of the direct data into one place and identifying specifically which positions can be transferred is a complex endeavor.

Analytics Solution

Leveraging Albridge’s data consolidation capabilities, Pershing developed an innovative solution: Opportunity View- Direct Business Monitor Dashboard for advisors. This new dashboard leverages advanced analytics coupled with the right data visualization to identify all of the direct held mutual fund positions that are eligible to be transferred to Pershing. Additionally, Pershing connected the analytics seamlessly to a workflow process, allowing advisors to initiate the transfer directly through the analytics dashboard.

Impact

The OpportunityView- Direct Business Monitor Dashboard was rolled out in March 2017. Given the delay in the Department of Labor’s Fiduciary Rule applicability date, firms have not immediately started using the new tool. However, Pershing believes the tool will be invaluable to help firms better comply with this industry-changing regulation. The technology will also allow firms and advisors to use the data to identify potential income opportunities for clients if they are enrolled in Pershing’s Fully Paid Securities Lending Program.