AdvisorCentral Adds Heartland Funds to Portal; Fund Company Responds to Advisors, Broker-Dealers and Clearing Firms that Depend on AdvisorCentral for Account Aggregation Needs.Business Editors BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 5, 2003 AdvisorCentral, a core-business building portal for financial advisors and broker-dealers, today announced the addition of Heartland Funds as a participating fund company. Users of the portal are able to view clients' holdings in the Heartland Family of funds Family of Funds A group of mutual funds offered by one investment or fund company. Each mutual fund has different characteristics and can range depending on investment objective. Also referred to as a "Mutual Fund Family" or simply a "Fund Family". , including the Select Value (NASD NASD See: National Association of Securities Dealers NASD See National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD). : HRSVX), Value Plus (NASD: HRVIX) and Heartland Value Funds. The funds became accessible through AdvisorCentral on May 1, 2003. "We feel participation on AdvisorCentral is a must," said Paul Beste, Chief Operating Officer Chief Operating Officer (COO) The officer of a firm responsible for day-to-day management, usually the president or an executive vice-president. , Heartland Funds. "In addition, we have received feedback from the intermediary Intermediary See: Financial intermediary intermediary See financial intermediary. market that AdvisorCentral is the tool they prefer to use to assist them with a number of their needs including trade processing and clearing activities. We believe that AdvisorCentral is an essential resource for fund companies that seek to focus on communicating with their intermediaries, and provide them with the timely and accurate information they need to offer the level of service their customers demand, and ultimately help them to increase sales." "We are excited that Heartland Funds' intermediaries are depending specifically on AdvisorCentral for aggregated account information," said Harry Groom, President and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. , AdvisorCentral. "Increasingly, AdvisorCentral is becoming the place to be for financial advisors, broker-dealers and fund companies alike. Securing a place on the portal gives fund companies a genuine competitive advantage." Launched in November 2001, AdvisorCentral aggregates client information from over 40 industry-leading funds, representing more than 45 million accounts. The portal enables intermediaries to better service their clients while saving significant amounts of time. "I believe that AdvisorCentral provides a more efficient tool for our intermediaries," added Mr. Beste. "Broker-dealers, for instance, can meet with clients, access their account information at their desks, and provide instant service based on in-depth data. At the same time, their back-end staff can quickly confirm transactions without the need to call separate dealer services representatives." About AdvisorCentral AdvisorCentral (advisorcentral.com) serves as a core business-building portal for financial advisors and broker-dealers--providing indispensable information, commentary, research, and workplace resources. AdvisorCentral is also a major marketing resource and source of trend data for participating mutual fund companies. Leveraging industry-standard technologies for ease of use, AdvisorCentral provides advisors with consolidated views of their clients' holdings across all participating fund companies and receives nearly two million monthly queries. While features may vary by investment company, AdvisorCentral offers a range of additional capabilities such as the ability to make purchases, exchanges and redemptions; view detailed historical transactions; calculate contingent deferred sales charges Contingent deferred sales charge (CDSC) The formal name for the load of a back-end load fund. contingent deferred sales charge A mutual fund redemption fee that is reduced or eliminated for specified holding periods. ; and directly link to participating funds' Web sites. AdvisorCentral is jointly owned by Fidelity Investments Fidelity Investments is a group of privately held companies in the financial services industry. It is made up by two independent but closely cooperating companies, Fidelity Management and Research Corporation (FMR Co. (R), Franklin Templeton Investors Services, Inc., Putnam Investments Putnam Investments was founded in 1937 by George Putnam. At the same time, he founded its first mutual fund offering, The George Putnam Fund of Boston.[1] Putnam has offices in London and Tokyo, and its headquarters is located in Boston, Massachusetts. and PFPC PFPC Professional Financial Planning Course (Canadian Securities Institute) Inc., a member of the PNC Financial Services PNC Financial Services (NYSE: PNC) is a U.S.-based financial services corporation, with assets of $92.0 billion. PNC operations include a regional banking franchise operating primarily in eight states and the District of Columbia, specialized financial businesses serving Group, Inc., and it is free to advisors. About Heartland Advisors, Inc. Heartland Advisors, Inc. is an investment firm focused on value equity investing. Known as America's Value Investor(R), the firm was established in 1982 and oversees approximately $1.4 billion for institutional clients, high net-worth individuals, and the Heartland Family of funds: the Heartland Value, Select Value (NASD: HRSVX) and Value Plus Funds (NASD: HRVIX). Editors and reporters seeking interviews with AdvisorCentral should contact Dawn Ringel, Warner Communications, at 781-449-8456 or dawn@warnerpr.com. |
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