Investment Product and Service Launches

Schwab Retirement Plan Services Partners With Newport, Conduent to Expand Capabilities

Schwab Retirement Plan Services, a division of Charles Schwab Corp., announced Wednesday partnerships with retirement solution providers Newport, an Ascensus LLC company, and Conduent Inc. to expand Schwab’s nonqualified deferred compensation and defined benefit plan services.

Schwab announced that it entered the relationships to expand services in the “larger segments of the retirement plan market,” with services that will start in 2024. Schwab will remain as plan provider, with support from Conduent and Newport, and plan sponsors and participants will continue to access their DB and deferred compensation plans through Schwab’s platform. 

The expanded capabilities for NQ plans will include nonqualified plan administration; plan design, legal, tax and accounting resources; detailed plan sponsor financial reporting; direct participant payments and W-2 income statement services; and asset liability management, among other areas. 

On the DB side, the partnership will bring clients with traditional pension plans and cash balance plans services including: data analytics, compliance and reporting tools; support for data remediation and audit services; interactive calculators for participant planning; de-risking strategies, including pension risk transfer, annuity conversion and term vested lump sum payment programs; and administration for frozen DB plans. 

Franklin Templeton Launches US Fixed-Income ETF 

Franklin Templeton today announced the expansion of its U.S. fixed-income exchange-traded-fund lineup with the launch of BrandywineGLOBAL – U.S. Fixed Income ETF on Nasdaq under the ticker USFI. 

Brandywine Global, a specialist investment manager of Franklin Templeton, offers the USFI ETF with the goal of seeking total return by investing in U.S. fixed-income securities, including debt issued or guaranteed by the U.S. government, U.S. corporate debt securities, mortgage-backed securities and asset-backed securities of U.S. issuers, as well as other fixed-income and related investments.  

“A recurring topic of conversation with clients this year has been active fixed-income ETFs,” Patrick O’Connor, global head of ETFs for Franklin Templeton, said in a statement. “We believe fixed income is an area where active management shines, and we are excited to bring Brandywine Global’s nearly 30 years of experience in the U.S. fixed-income market to this new ETF.”

USFI’s portfolio management team consists of Anujeet Sareen, Brian L. Kloss, Jack P. McIntyre and Tracy Chen.  

PGIM Brings CLO ETF to Retail Investors; Adds New Active ETF 

PGIM, the investment management arm of Prudential Financial Inc., has launched exchange-traded fund PGIM AAA CLO ETF to provide investors direct access to the $1.2 trillion collateralized loan obligation market. 

PAAA is subadvised by PGIM Fixed Income, a securitized credit and leveraged finance manager with $101 billion in securitized credit assets under management, including $55 billion in collateralized loan obligation tranches. While the ETF represents a new retail offering for the firm, PGIM Fixed Income noted that it has been managing sleeves of high-grade CLOs within investment strategies for more than 15 years, with a team of 27 investment professionals dedicated to the securitized credit space. 

“The CLO market has evolved since the Global Financial Crisis and represents an enormous, relatively untapped opportunity for retail investors,” Edwin Wilches, co-portfolio manager of the PGIM AAA CLO ETF, said in a statement. “As we remain in a period of economic uncertainty with tighter financial conditions and corporate defaults expected to increase, high-quality CLOs have the potential to insulate an investor’s portfolio while providing diversification benefits with less idiosyncratic risk and the potential for attractive risk-adjusted returns.” 

In addition to PAAA, PGIM also announced the PGIM Short Duration Multi-Sector Bond ETF, which seeks to provide total return, allocating its investments across different sectors of the fixed-income market with an average portfolio duration of three years or less. The fund closely mirrors the existing $2.9 billion PGIM Short Duration Multi-Sector Bond Fund, the firm noted. Both the mutual fund and ETF are managed by Gregory Peters, Robert Tipp and Richard Piccirillo. 

“Active ETFs are one of the fastest growing segments of the ETF market today,” Stuart Parker, president and CEO of PGIM Investments, said in a statement. “PGIM will continue to aggressively expand its suite of products to meet this client demand by either offering new ways to access the market or expanding access to our flagship strategies.”  

With the addition of these new funds, PGIM Investments now offers investors 10 actively managed ETFs across fixed income, equities and multi-asset solutions.  

Athene Adds to Fixed Indexed Annuity Lineup 

Athene USA Corp. announced three new indices in its suite of retail fixed indexed annuities that use proprietary market analysis with the goal of delivering risk-adjusted returns. 

The indices are: the S&P 500 FC Index (SPXFCDUE), from S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and designed in collaboration with Bank of America; the AI Powered Global Opportunities Index (AIGO), sponsored by HSBC; and the UBS Innovative Balanced Index (UBSIBAL), sponsored by UBS. The annuities are issued by Athene Annuity and Life Co., a subsidiary of Athene.

“The index is the beating heart of the modern fixed indexed annuity and a strategic focus at Athene,” Mike Downing, executive vice president and chief operating officer, Athene USA, said in a statement.  

Athene noted that the indices are focused on: 

• The S&P 500 FC Index aims to control intraday realized volatility and adapt faster to changing market conditions than an index using traditional end-of-day volatility targeting; 
• The AI Powered Global Opportunities Index adds to rules-based strategies using IBM Watson and other technologies to learn and evolve over time from the growing amount of data being generated each day; and  
• The UBS Innovative Balanced Index leverages unique signals that aim to provide an early read into the U.S. macro environment and inform an all-weather tactical allocation to equities, commodities and bonds.