Product & Service Launches

JPMAM Enhances Retirement Link Platform

J.P. Morgan Asset Management announced enhancements to Retirement Link, the firm’s bundled defined contribution plan platform.

The updates expand access to in-plan retirement income solutions by making JPMAM’s SmartRetirement Lifetime Income available across Empower Retirement LLC’s recordkeeping platforms; strengthen implementation and ongoing operational services by enhancing required minimum distribution processing; and expand participant communications and education, including multilingual resources.

T. Rowe Price Launches Dynamic Emerging Markets Bond ETF

T. Rowe Price announced the launch of the T. Rowe Price Dynamic Emerging Markets Bond ETF, an actively managed fixed-income exchange-traded fund. TDEM began trading on the Nasdaq exchange on October 1.

The fund seeks income and capital appreciation by combining bonds across emerging-market sovereign, corporate and local-currency markets.

The ETF is managed by Leonard Kwan, Samy Muaddi and Richard Hall, T. Rowe Price portfolio managers with experience in emerging markets bond strategy, Asia credit bond strategy and global high-income strategy.

Alto IRA Platform Adds Forge Trust Alts, Accounts

Alto, a platform providing private-market access to retirement accounts, is adding the alternative asset classes and account types of Forge Trust, a self-directed individual retirement account custodian, following Alto’s announced agreement this week to acquire Forge Trust’s parent company, Forge Global Inc., from Charles Schwab Corp.

The combined platform provides custody, compliance, broker/dealer, and API-enabled enterprise capabilities, along with a private market investment marketplace. It also uses artificial intelligence to automate documentation and execution workflows.

Combined, Alto and Forge Trust will have more than $20 billion in assets under custody and administration, more than 60,000 self-directed IRA accounts holding private market assets, and more than 3 million custody-as-a-service accounts.