AssetMark will be unrolling a new ETF program for its advisors, Brian O'Toole, senior vice president with the firm, told the MutualFundWire.com. The offering will be available on April 15 of this year. The asset allocation portfolios will be managed by Standard & Poor's and Breen Financial Corporation.

O'Toole reported that AssetMark already has a pre-existing relationship with S&P through its mutual fund business. S&P bases its portfolios on Modern Portfolio Theory. Breen's investment strategy is designed to exploit changing market conditions by tactically rotating through various sectors and styles.

"We are pursuing ETFs because of their cost structure and the investor can better manage tax liability than through mutual funds," the executive continued. "We feel it is an important product, and we have talked with a number of our advisors about implementing that approach."

The firm will be using its regional consultants to get the word out about the ETFs.

In other AssetMark news, the firm will also be holding seven of its practice management workshops across the nation between now and July 1. O'Toole describes these as two-and-a-half day boot camps to provide advisors with "in the trenches practice management".

"We are working toward a product neutral platform," he concluded, "We provide open architecture on our investment platform." The firm's next project will be in the hedge fund arena. 

See the list of all the 2002 Most Influential People



Stay ahead of the news ... Sign up for our email alerts now
CLICK HERE