LPL Financial and EPIC Platforms Inc. have teamed up to create a licensed branch employee support program for credit unions and banks to build stronger investment programs.

The LPE program is targeted at helping to increase productivity, household penetration and share-of-wallet among investment programs of financial institutions supported by LPL Financial's Institution Services business, according to the company.

In addition to designing and implementing customized programs for credit unions and banks, the LBE program will also serve financial advisers and investment program managers with tools and resources to be better coaches and mentors to their licensed branch employees and staff, LPL Financial said.

Through the LBE program, branch employees will also receive ongoing support in training and certification.

“As banks and credit unions seek new ways to increase their revenues and improve profitability, they have found that investment programs offer an effective means of gaining a greater share of their customers' assets and significantly reinforcing customer loyalty,” said Rob Comfort, executive vice president of business consulting, LPL Financial Institution Services.

LPL Financial Institution Services serves the investment sales programs for more than 700 financial institutions in 4,000 branch locations nationwide, according to the company.

EPIC Platforms provides financial institutions with consulting services to design, build and support licensed branch employee programs.