TD bulks up services for retirement plans

TD Ameritrade Institutional yesterday rolled out what the firm says is an expanded set of services to help its advisers offer unbundled retirement plan solutions. One new service is access to a list of 12 third-party record keepers that advisers can use in setting up a retirement plan. “We interface with about 100 [record keepers] around the country, but that doesn't narrow it down enough for many advisers,” said Skip Schweiss, president of TD Ameritrade Trust Co. The dozen firms chosen do a “significant amount of business with us, have good, tight operational interfaces and have some geographical dispersion,” Mr. Schweiss said. The record keepers did not pay to be included, he said. A number of pending regulatory changes increasing fee transparency in the retirement plan marketplace will give unbundled providers an advantage, Mr. Schweiss said. (See latest story) With unbundled plan providers, “all the fees are out there for everyone to see,” he said. “And if someone falls down on the job, you can change providers without greatly disrupting [the plan].” Another new enhancement lets TD Ameritrade advisers handle plan participants' self-directed brokerage accounts through the firm's adviser trading platform, Veo. “It becomes very seamless for advisers to do that now,” Mr. Schweiss said. Advisers can trade, rebalance, deduct management fees and download self-directed account data into their portfolio management and accounting systems, the company said in a statement. In the statement, TD Ameritrade also highlighted its educational offerings for advisers and record keepers, and its team of consultants that the custodian says can help advisers expand their retirement plan businesses.