Fundsters and retail investors alike who want to find out more about their financial advisors, or who want to find new financial advisors, have a new resource to turn to. Today San Diego-based BrightScope, which already offers a publicly-searchable database on different 401(k) plans, unveiled BrightScope Advisor Pages, a new search-engine-friendly database of almost 438,000 advisors and counting.

BrightScope co-founders Ryan (left) and Mike Alfred at The 401kWire's DC Influencer Summit in April 2010

Bloomberg and InvestmentNews also reported on the site.

The new site draws on publicly-available data from the SEC's RIA database and Finra's BrokerCheck service, pulling together information on advisors' assets under management, areas of specialty, legal and regulatory issues, certifications and experience and more. BrightScope CEO Mike Alfred, president Ryan Alfred and chief operating officer Dan Weeks sat down with The MFWire to discuss the new product.

"Let's take this data, let's democratize this," Mike Alfred told The MFWire. "Google can index it."

The new site won't be the same as BrightScope's flagship 401(k) offering, which features overall BrightScope ratings of companies' 401(k) plans, based on factors like fees, investment lineup, participation and more.

"We're not doing a rating, but we are going to do some metrics that help you compare advisors to other advisors," Ryan Alfred explained, adding that advisors will be able to submit additions to some of the data (though they won't have control over some sections, like legal and regulatory issues).

"One of our goals is to create a performance standard that cuts across," Mike Alfred added, pointing to advisors who work with broker-dealers, insurance channels and RIAs.

The Alfreds, who first made waves in the 401(k) industry at the beginning of 2009 with their ratings database, have IPO ambitions, and the new product is a key part of that. They even plan to link the advisor and 401(k) databases, so plan participants can easily find out more about their plan advisors.

"To me, this database is five to ten times more valuable than the 401(k) database," Mike Alfred said, adding that, like on the 401(k) side, BrightScope will launch and establish this public database first before building products for sale off of that, complete with a larger direct sales force of 30 by year-end. "We're good at enterprise products on top of a consumer-facing database."

Will BrightScope's new site take off? While there are other advisor databases out there beyond SEC and Finra, many (like Discovery Databases) are subscription-based and aimed at businesses, not retail investors. (There's at least one exception: Reuters did launch its own open-access, Facebook-esque advisor site several years ago.) BrightScope is looking to leverage both their 401(k) ratings site's brand and their tech savvy at making their sites Google friendly -- the Alfred brothers expect that Advisor Pages profiles will beat out even advisors' own websites in Google searches.

As for broker-dealers and regulators who may be nervous about BrightScope's Google-friendly database, well, the Alfreds have thrown down the gauntlet.

"We said, 'Let's build a great product first and get it out there,'" Mike Alfred said. "They [broker-dealers and regulators] are going to have to change and evolve."

Company Press Release

SAN DIEGO, CA--(Apr 26, 2011) - BrightScope� (www.brightscope.com), a leading provider of independent investment research and financial data, today announced the launch of BrightScope Advisor Pages�, a breakthrough way for people to discover, research, and select a financial advisor. Aggregating hard-to-discover but publically available information on advisors, BrightScope has created a free, easy to use database that is searchable from multiple dimensions right from its homepage.

"Never before has it been possible to learn so much about a single advisor," said BrightScope CEO, Mike Alfred. "Firm websites and LinkedIn pages don't tell you the things you need to know to make an informed decision, and the amount of time it would take the average person to obtain the information, involving an immense amount of various public records and sources, is endless."

People can only search government databases by providing an individual or company name, so they cannot use them to learn more about an unknown individual or firm. BrightScope Advisor Pages� is a way to find the companies and professionals most suitable for specific financial needs, and a simple way to learn more about a current or recommended financial advisor. Aggregated, easily searchable information covers everything someone needs to make an informed decision, including location, qualifications, amount and types of assets under management, area of specialty, legal disputes, formal complaints and more.

As a leading financial data firm, already well-established in the retirement industry, BrightScope expands the company's leadership position beyond the 401k and retirement marketplaces with the launch of BrightScope Advisor Pages� to bring unprecedented transparency to the broader wealth management sphere.

BrightScope obtains its data directly from publicly available sources, including required regulatory filings from the Securities Exchange Commission. Financial advisors can augment these primary sources by claiming their BrightScope Advisor Page�. By analyzing and interpreting this data, BrightScope now provides unparalleled insight into the financial management industry.

For more information about BrightScope Advisor Pages� or to find a financial advisor, please visit http://www.brightscope.com/financial-planning/find/advisor/.

About BrightScope

BrightScope is a financial information company that brings transparency to opaque markets through independent research and analysis. Delivered through web-based software, BrightScope data drives better decision-making for individual investors, corporate plan sponsors, asset managers, broker-dealers, and financial advisors. The BrightScope Rating�, developed in partnership with leading independent 401k fiduciaries, reviews more than 200 unique data inputs per plan and calculates a single numerical score which defines plan quality at the company level. In April 2011, the company launched BrightScope Advisor Pages�, the first comprehensive and publicly available directory of financial advisors designed to help consumers discover information and conduct due diligence on wealth management professionals. BrightScope also markets a suite of data analytics software products to Fortune 1000 companies, asset managers, broker-dealers, financial advisors, and other market participants. Public ratings for more than 55,000 retirement plans as well as rating definitions, criteria and methodologies, and information on more than 450,000 financial advisors are available for free at www.brightscope.com.

Edited by: Neil Anderson, Managing Editor

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