Investment Management Newsflashes: John Hancock Sticks With Financial Profiles, Lowe, Brockenbrough Using Advent for Portfolio Management, and more

John Hancock Renews Financial Profiles' Contract

John Hancock Financial Network has signed a three-year renewal agreement with Financial Profiles for its Profiles+ Professional and Profiles+ Forecaster planning applications. John Hancock will utilize the financial planning tools across its entire U.S. advisor force.

Profiles+ Professional is a cash flow-based planning application and Profiles+ Forecaster is a goals-based, needs analysis solution. The software provides fact finding and report pages, which simplify the planning process for both advisers and clients, empowering relationship-orientated selling initiatives.

"Needs-based, client-centered selling directly enhances our advisers' ability to increase productivity and customer loyalty," said Dave Freitag, vice president of training and sales development at John Hancock, in a release. "Tools life Professional and Forecaster are important components of this needs-based culture."

John Hancock Financial Network is a part of the Canadian-based Manulife Financial Corp. that manages $297 billion in assets in 19 countries and territories worldwide. The company offers clients a range of financial protection products and wealth management services.

Lowe, Brockenbrough Using Advent for Portfolio Management

Investment advisory firm Lowe, Brockenbrough and Co. (LBC) has selected Advent Portfolio Exchange from Advent Software as its portfolio accounting, reporting and client relationship management platform. LBC recently completed installation of the product and will utilize it for its institutional and high net-worth clients.

Advent Portfolio Exchange is designed to manage a range of investment operations from the early stages of client prospecting through client reporting. The application utilizes Microsoft technology including an SQL database, .NET technology and a Web-based user interface. It features portfolio management and reporting, integrated client management, transaction management and auditing capability, and customizable online reporting for client and portfolio information.

"We're very impressed with the company's technology direction, particularly the comprehensive features of Advent Portfolio Exchange on an open architecture platform," said David Sanderlin, IT manager at LBC, of Advent, in a release. "They've worked hard to understand our unique environment and have committed the required resources throughout the implementation process. We are looking forward to a very successful relationship going forward."

Lowe, Brockenbrough and Co. is an investment advisory firm for institutional and high net-worth clients, managing $1.1 billion in assets. The firm focuses on working with clients to achieve long-term investment goals.

CFA Institute Announces New Online Enrollment for CGIPS

CFA Institute announced the availability of online enrollment for its new Certificate in Global Investment Performance Standards (CGIPS) program. The program is offered to professionals worldwide who are responsible for investment performance evaluation and presentation.

The program is designed to improve and recognize a user's proficiency in applying techniques and the Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS), which guide investment firms in fairly representing and fully disclosing performance results. CGIPS uses a self-study program to train compliance officers, regulators, performance measurement software developers, investment managers, consultants and other professional to meet industry requirements.

The goal of CGIPS is to provide an education in a specialized field and to attest to the participants' mastery of the knowledge and skills that they need to practice in their field with competence. The CGIPS curriculum is available online as a combination of readings and interactive study materials. There are two examinations - principles and expert - for different levels of mastery.

"As investment strategies and products become more complex, completing the CGIPS program will clearly set client-facing investment professionals apart, " said Richard Hunt, COO of Barclays Global Investors' Americas Institutional Business, in a release. "To encourage our staff to attain the designation, we will likely structure compensation incentives around the program."