Study: CUs, Banks Collect $37 Billion in NSF Fees
ST. SIMON'S ISLAND, Ga.-New research by Bretton Woods Inc., a bank strategy consulting firm based here, details, by state, the amount in overdraft protection and non-sufficient fund fees collected by banks and credit unions in 2008.
The research, by bank strategist G. Michael Flores, reveals the amount in fees paid by the average household with a checking account and discusses how banks and credit unions are more dependent on these fees.
"It's becoming very clear that banks are increasingly reliant on fees resulting from overdrawn checking accounts for income," said Flores. "Nationally, the average household now has more than 12 overdraft transactions per year and pays $368 per year in fees. We see no reason for this trend to change. Bounced check fees and overdraft protection will have a larger and larger financial impact on households."
For info: www.bretton-woods.com
Unified Managed Accounts Studied
BROOKFIELD, Wis.-A wave of baby boomers with significant assets is approaching retirement and the managed accounts industry must focus on programs and solutions that provide a holistic approach to meeting the changing needs of these investors.
That is the message from Fiserv's CheckFree, which recently released a white paper on the benefit of unified managed accounts for retiring boomers.
According to CheckFree, as the financial priorities of baby boomers shift from asset accumulation to income replacement and capital preservation, effective investment programs and solutions must consider risk and tax needs and should be contained within a single technology platform that enables financial advisors to monitor those portfolios.
The white paper, titled, "Unified Managed Accounts for Retirement: The Technology Solution Designed to Assist the Affluent Baby Boomer Generation," is the second in a four-part series focused on helping the investment services industry meet the financial challenges of baby boomers. CheckFree said the new paper explores how the structure of UMAs, which can contain multiple products within a single account, can provide financial advisors with effective tools for retirement planning, including account-level performance monitoring.
The firm said UMAs are effective in helping financial advisors address the client concerns of investors with significant investable assets given today's market conditions by offering account, transactions and holdings transparency and helping to ensure client assets are well diversified.
