A popular market data source goes wireless

Advisers whose firms subscribe to the SunGard FAME market data service can now receive it on their hand-held devices, thanks to a deal between SunGard Data Systems Inc. of Wayne, Pa., and Pyxis Mobile Inc. of Waltham, Mass.

Advisers whose firms subscribe to the SunGard FAME market data service can now receive it on their hand-held devices, thanks to a deal between SunGard Data Systems Inc. of Wayne, Pa., and Pyxis Mobile Inc. of Waltham, Mass.

More than 200 financial services providers, third-party content aggregators and software companies in 30 countries use FAME data.

Most financial advisers have typically accessed the data through a wealth management application, such as SunGard’s WealthStation platform.

FAME competitors include Bloomberg LP of New York and London-based Reuters Group PLC, which offer similar data feeds of market information.

“The carrot on this [mobile] stick is that it gets you into areas other people aren’t providing,” said Adam D. Honor, a senior analyst in Denver with Boston-based Aite Group LLC.

He was referring to the more sensitive corporate, institutional or client data located on the secure back-end systems of brokerage firms, banks and other financial institutions that advisers or brokers need to carry out their duties when they are on the move.

“When you are talking about being able to trade and manage a portfolio over a mobile device, Pyxis is really the only game in town,” he said.

In a typical installation, the Pyxis mobile platform resides behind a firm’s corporate firewall. This, in turn, is populated with market data from SunGard FAME. Users have just one login whether they access FAME via their personal computer or a mobile device.

Adviser applications are offered on a subscription model that ranges widely, according to functionality, data sources, the timeliness of data and other factors.

Subscriptions range from less than $100 a month to much more. Several thousand advisers around the country access Pyxis mobile technology directly or through various partnerships.

More information is available at sungard.com/fame and pyxismobile.com.

Chicago-based Envestnet Management and Research Group, which recently resurrected the Portfolio Management Consultants brand (InvestmentNews, Oct. 1), has rolled out the first subsequent product under that name.

PMC Select Portfolios, a fund wrap program with six portfolios, requires a minimum initial investment of $50,000.

Portfolio choices include core fixed income, tax-free fixed income, international equity, large-cap growth, large-cap value and a small-cap-core offering.

All of those portfolios provide active re-balancing.

The fees, which are capped, range from 1.5% for the small-cap-core and international-equity funds, to 1.4% for the large-cap funds and 1% for the two fixed-income funds.

Kevin Gerard, a registered investment adviser and owner of Gerard Asset Management Ltd. of Milwaukee, already has $8 million in client assets on the platform.

His firm, which has $100 million in assets under management, had about 70 clients on Envestnet’s platform before the new portfolios came out.

“It’s a big enhancement for us,” Mr. Gerard said of PMC Select Portfolios. “I just don’t have the resources or the time to follow the money managers at all the different places our clients are investing. This allows me to focus on what my clients want me to do for them, which is suitability.”

Mr. Gerard said the product will appeal to those of his clients who have more than $150,000 to invest.

PMC Select Portfolios is also making life easier for Martin James, principal of Martin James Investment and Tax Management LLC of Mooresville, Ind.

The offering “adds to the efficiencies of my own office tremendously,” said Mr. James, whose firm has $45 million in assets under management. “And I can place a client in an appropriately selected portfolio based on the volatility they’re willing to accept.”

More information is available at investpmc.com.

Davis D. Janowski can be reached at [email protected].