Financial Engines
FINANCIAL ENGINES' GROWTH IN Q1 2003 REFLECTS STRONG DEMAND FOR INVESTMENT ADVICE SOLUTIONS
Thirty-six New Employer Clients Make Financial Engines' Investment Advice Available to Additional 375,000 Employees
PALO ALTO, Calif., May 14, 2003 – Financial Engines, Inc. today announced that in the first quarter of 2003 the company added 36 new plan sponsor clients representing more than 375,000 employees. New Financial Engines users include Ameren, Continental Casualty Company and Louisiana Public Employees Deferred Compensation Plan, a client of Advised Assets GroupSM, LLC (Great-West Life & Annuity Insurance Company). Financial Engines' business growth reflects the continuing demand for high- quality, third-party investment advisory solutions powered by the company's advice technology.
"Financial Engines' business success demonstrates the strong demand for investment advice and the fact that an increasing number of employers are taking action to deliver advice to employees," said Jeff Maggioncalda, president and CEO of Financial Engines. "The steady growth of Financial Engines' client base over the years has resulted in strong increases in revenue and positive cash flow from operations."
In the first quarter of 2003, Financial Engines' executives and board members addressed issues related to retirement security and brought to light trends in the financial services industry. Olena Berg Lacy, Financial Engines board member and former assistant secretary of labor and head of the Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration, presented to 401(k) plan sponsors, plan providers and industry luminaries at the Pensions & Investments 11th Annual Defined Contribution/401(k) Conference in February. Her presentation was entitled "The Top Ten Ways to Fail as a 401(k) Fiduciary and What You Can Do About It." At the same conference, the Florida State Board of Administration (FSBA) won the Eddy Award in new media communications in the public plan category. The P&I Eddy Awards recognize high-quality investment education for plan participants. The first place honor was for the MyFRS.com web site, which the FSBA created with the help of Ketchum Communications, Ernst & Young LLC and Financial Engines, Inc. MyFRS.com is aimed at helping employees who had the choice of selecting among a defined benefit plan, a new hybrid plan or a new defined contribution plan.
Another topic that has been important to the industry is Monte Carlo simulation, a statistical forecasting technique used for decades by pension fund managers. As the pioneer in the broad use of Monte Carlo simulation, Financial Engines hosted an online seminar in February to educate plan sponsors and providers on forecasting and what constitutes "good" Monte Carlo simulation. Leading the discussion were Bill Sharpe, Nobel laureate and co-founder of Financial Engines, and Christopher Jones, Financial Engines' executive vice president of financial research and strategy. In addition, Christopher Jones was invited to give a presentation on Monte Carlo simulation to registered investment advisors at the TD Waterhouse Partnership 2003 conference in February 2003.
Also at the TD Waterhouse Partnership 2003 conference, TD Waterhouse announced that it will make the Financial Engines Professional AdvisorTM service available to its network of registered investment advisors at no cost for the calendar year 2003. In March 2003, American Century Investments, together with Financial Engines, Inc., introduced its new Rollover Advisor service. The Rollover Advisor combines the expertise and personal touch of American Century's Rollover Advice Specialists with Financial Engines' advice technology to provide advice on retirement assets rolled over to an Individual Retirement Account (IRA).
Also in March, Barron's named Financial Engines the No. 1 site for retirement planning. Financial Engines received the highest rating in each category: ease of use, depth and usefulness of data, editorial content, tools and interactivity. Barron's noted the "numerous enhancements" that have been made to the site and that it is "more explicit in the types of advice given."
The first quarter of 2003 marked developments on other business fronts as well. Financial Engines welcomed to its executive team Bill Thompson, formerly senior vice president of marketing for Fidelity Institutional Services. In his role as executive vice president of marketing, Thompson will oversee all marketing strategy at Financial Engines.
About Financial Engines
Financial Engines provides advice technology and services to help financial institutions and employers address real-world investor needs for their clients and employees. Financial Engines' services provide specific, actionable investment recommendations based on the outcomes an investor wants to achieve and can be delivered through the web, phone, or face-to-face. Fifteen financial institutions and 900 plan sponsors have hired Financial Engines to make advice available to over 3.2 million individuals. Nobel Prize-winning economist William F. Sharpe founded the company with a revolutionary vision: to help employers and financial institutions make institutional-quality advice available to individual investors. For more information on Financial Engines, visit www.financialengines.com.
Financial Engines is a registered trademark of Financial Engines, Inc.