Asset managers
Life insurers’ exposure to risky assets and reliance on reinsurance raises concerns about their interconnectedness and complexity, research from the Bank of International Settlements shows.
Why 401(k) Plan Sponsors Remain Wary of Annuities
The SECURE Act of 2019 did too little, too soon, in opening up 401(k) plans to all kinds of annuities. Some big 401(k) plans are ready to offer in-plan...
British regulators scrutinize ‘FundedRe’ in pension deals
The Prudential Regulatory Authority, the Bank of England's financial regulatory arm, told UK life insurers in late July that it has concerns about the use of 'funded reinsurance' (FundedRe)...
A ‘Nesting Doll’ of an In-Plan Annuity
ARS, State Street Global Advisors, Nationwide, Athene, Transamerica and Global Trust Company have brought to market the State Street GTC Retirement Income Builder, a target date fund with a...
Life Insurers as LEGO Monsters
Michael Gordon, CEO of Axonic Insurance, part of Axonic Capital, sees the future of the life/annuity/asset-management business as an increasingly a la carte affair, where the components of the...
Desperately Seeking Alpha (and Getting Caught)
Low rates, demand for yield, financial alchemy, gaudy incentives and a black swan event provided the ingredients for the cataclysm at AGI US. Pictured: SEC chief Gary Gensler.
Goldman Sachs acquires NextCapital
NextCapital, based in Chicago, is an open-architecture digital retirement advice provider that partners with US financial institutions. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Why bonds fit awkwardly in the separate account space
'The bond market is structured around the trading habits of large institutions,' said a Cerulli director. 'With rare exceptions, fixed-income separately managed accounts are likely to continue to be...
Reaching HNW clients in the pandemic era: Cerulli
'Many asset managers have shifted to a channel-agnostic approach distribution model from a channel-specific model,' said Cerulli analyst Asher Cheses.
Life Insurers’ Bermuda Triangle, Part II
The humble fixed indexed annuity is at the center of the restructuring hurricane that has swept through the life insurance industry in recent years. We bring you the second...
COVID-19 Will Cause a Drop in AUM: Cerulli
'Around the world, investments into private markets slowed in the first half of 2020, with only US$433.7 billion of capital raised,' said an analyst at the global analytics and...
BlackRock Makes a Bundle (with Annuities)
BlackRock, the giant asset manager, is adding a lifetime income dimension to its LifePath target date funds by partnering with Brighthouse, Equitable and Voya on a service that will...
Project LIMA Aims to Solve the Annuity Puzzle
Milliman, the actuarial consulting firm, envisions putting a multi-premium deferred income annuity inside a 401(k) managed account as a way to turn tax-deferred savings into lifetime income. It seeks...
Size matters, Cerulli tells plan providers
With estimates that the 10-largest recordkeepers will represent more than 75% of recordkept 401(k) assets by year-end 2019, current market dynamics point to an 'oligarchy' of retirement plan providers,...
‘Top of Mind’ Wealth Management Platforms
Fidelity, Charles Schwab and Vanguard were the three firms most often named by investors without hints, according to Cerulli Associates. (Forty years of brand-building never hurts.)
Fidelity’s brokerage claims industry price leadership
New commission changes take effect on October 10, 2019 for individual investors and will be available on November 4, 2019 for registered investment advisors, a Fidelity release said.
Asset managers need to design ‘vehicle-agnostic’ products: Cerulli
'Mutual fund providers feel pressure to prioritize development and distribution of other vehicles over the mutual fund,' said a report from the Boston-based global consulting firm.
The Seeds of Inflation are Beginning to Sprout
'Trump’s inconsistent trade policies and persistent badgering of Fed Chair Powell and his colleagues has undermined business confidence,' writes our guest columnist, an economist.
What active funds must do to survive: Cerulli
'Active fund families that have grown organically have shown that there is, in fact, a viable path to success,' said Ed Louis, senior analyst at Cerulli.
Flight from active to passive funds and ETFs slowed in September: Morningstar
Among all U.S. open-end mutual funds and ETFs, Fidelity Advisor Growth & Income saw the most inflows of all active strategies at $1.8 billion, the fund's highest inflows in a...