Commonwealth Adds Broadridge’s Forefield Applications to Research Package at No Cost to Advisors

WALTHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Commonwealth Financial Network^® today announced a multiyear agreement with Forefield, a division of Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:BR), to offer its research package subscribers a complimentary suite of web-based education and client communication solutions. The new materials will broaden the scope of the financial advisor’s deliverables, as well as allow an advisor to become well-versed on a particular financial planning topic quickly. Package enhancements include three new applications:

“Not only do the e-newsletters save us time and postage, but we have received several new clients from current customers who have forwarded the newsletter to their family, friends, and colleagues.”

• Forefield Advisor™. Provides access to more than 2,300 articles, 200 illustrations and tables, 200 calculators, and 400 client presentations on financial planning topics and scenarios.
• Forefield Newsletter. Offers the ability to create newsletters on-demand using monthly content updates, articles, and market summaries.
• Forefield Continuing Education Service. Allows advisors to earn the credits necessary to satisfy their CE requirements for many popular accreditations—including CFP^®, ChFC^®, CLF^®, and CLU^®—online. Forefield tracks the date on which an advisor successfully completes a test and automatically notifies the CFP^® Board of Standards.

“Commonwealth understands the value of high-quality research and marketing tools, and we feel that Forefield’s suite of products is among the best in the business for meeting advisors’ needs to provide a higher level of service to their clients,” said David Juliano, Commonwealth’s advanced planning consultant.

“Broadridge is very excited to provide Commonwealth advisors with the trusted content and powerful client communication tools from Forefield,” said Andrew Besheer, vice president, customer communications, Broadridge. “This agreement represents a very significant client win for Broadridge’s Forefield division. We look forward to building a strong working partnership with Commonwealth, one of the acknowledged leaders in the independent brokerage market,” continued Mr. Besheer.

Advisors will have access to an extensive selection of materials to post on their firm’s website, including more than 1,000 articles and newsletters, as well as video market commentary that can be posted automatically for advisors using Commonwealth’s EasySite website program. Research package subscribers will also receive Forefield Alerts on recent regulatory and legislative changes.

“The Forefield database is an easy way to present financial topics to clients, without having to recreate the wheel,” said Andrew Tupler, CFP^®, AIF^®, MBA, a Commonwealth advisor and president of Tupler Financial. “Not only do the e-newsletters save us time and postage, but we have received several new clients from current customers who have forwarded the newsletter to their family, friends, and colleagues.”

This suite of services went live to more than 1,400 Commonwealth advisors on June 30, 2011.

About Commonwealth Financial Network

Founded in 1979, Commonwealth Financial Network, member FINRA/SIPC, and a registered investment adviser, is the nation’s largest, privately held independent broker/dealer, with headquarters in Waltham, Massachusetts, and San Diego, California. Commonwealth was ranked, “Highest in Independent Advisor Satisfaction among Financial Investment Firms,” by J.D. Power and Associates. The firm supports more than 1,400 independent registered representatives nationwide and makes available a comprehensive array of financial products and services. For more information, please visit www.commonwealth.com.

Commonwealth Financial Network received the highest numerical score in the independent advisor segment in the proprietary J.D. Power and Associates 2010 Financial Advisor Satisfaction Study^SM. Study based on 2,863 total responses and measures overall financial advisor satisfaction among advisors registered with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) investment firms. Proprietary study results are based on experiences and perceptions of financial advisors surveyed in February–June and July–August, 2010. Your experiences may vary. Visit jdpower.com.

About Broadridge

Broadridge (NYSE:BR) is a technology services company focused on global capital markets. Broadridge is a market leader enabling secure and accurate processing of information for communications and securities transactions among issuers, investors, and financial intermediaries. Broadridge builds the infrastructure that underpins proxy services for more than 90 percent of public companies and mutual funds in North America; processes more than $3 trillion in fixed income and equity trades per day; and saves companies billions annually through its technology solutions. For more information about Broadridge, please visit www.broadridge.com.