Investment Product and Service Launches

Art by Jackson Epstein

Mesirow Financial Presents Third Mutual Fund and Managed Account Program

Mesirow Financial (Mesirow) has launched its third mutual fund, the Mesirow Financial Enhanced Core Plus Fund, as well as a participant managed account program, the Mesirow Financial Precision Retirement.

Led by Mesirow’s Core Fixed Income team, the new fund will leverage the expertise from two of Mesirow’s other institutionally focused investment and alternative strategies—Currency Alpha and High Yield Fixed Income—to offer investors a differentiated strategy. 

“In today’s low-yield environment, investors are re-thinking fixed income allocations and searching for ways to achieve sufficient income and manage interest rate risk,” says Peter Hegel, head of the Core Fixed Income team at Mesirow. “By incorporating high yield and active currency, the Enhanced Core Plus Fund introduces asset classes that have low or negative correlations to major equity and fixed income asset classes, while also offering investors the potential for higher yield. We believe this is a combination that can provide attractive risk-adjusted performance over a market cycle.” 

The Mesirow Financial Precision Retirement program is designed to enhance financial wellness and offer professional portfolio management for retirement assets.

Mesirow Financial has also partnered with fintech provider Financial Soundings to leverage its Retirement Planning Insights program and expand upon the offering to include participant managed account functionality. 

“As a leader in custom portfolio and fiduciary services, Mesirow Financial continues to develop solutions to meet the evolving needs of retirement plan stakeholders. We built this cutting-edge managed account program with Financial Soundings to deliver a highly personalized solution that proactively engages participants and constructs portfolios to address participants’ specific set of circumstances,” says Michael Annin, head of Investment Strategies at Mesirow Financial.

BPAS Partners with Lincoln Financial on Stable Value Solution for VEBAs

BPAS has launched a custom guaranteed stable value solution with Lincoln Financial Group. The newly-launched BPAS Stable Value option is an elite cash product for BPAS Fiduciary Services Voluntary Employees’ Beneficiary Association (VEBA) plans.

According to Greg Woods, senior vice president of BPAS Fiduciary Services, “We are thrilled to team up with Lincoln Financial Group on this custom product offering for our VEBA clients. Lincoln’s financial soundness as a stable value provider, along with its dedication to serving the needs of the retirement participants made it a solid choice as a partner. This product will allow risk-averse savers to earn an industry best cash-like return as they save for their retirement medical expenses.”

“We are proud to partner with BPAS to provide our Stable Value option to its clients. Stable Value is a critical component of any retirement plan, and will become even more important as Baby Boomers approaching retirement increasingly look for capital preservation,” says Ralph Ferraro, senior vice president, head of Product, Retirement Plan Services, Lincoln Financial Group.

A VEBA is a tax-exempt, irrevocable Trust under Section 501(c)(9) of the Internal Revenue Code. This type of trust is used as a vehicle for employers to fund certain types of benefits, including funded health reimbursement accounts (HRAs). 

MSCI Builds Indexes to Track Long-Term Megatrends

MSCI Inc. has launched five thematic indexes tracking the performance of long-term megatrends which are widely expected to impact society and the economy in the future.

The new thematic indexes are useful for investors focused on the rise of smart cities, the digital economy, future mobility, disruptive technology and Millennials. 

MSCI constructs these thematic indexes with scalable and flexible methodologies. The index methodology systematically identifies companies based on the linkage of their business lines and business description information with the theme being modeled. MSCI derives an economic relevance score to assess the strength of that link to select the final index constituents.

This launch adds to MSCI’s existing thematic index suite of four indexes focused on cyber-security, robotics, ageing societies and efficient energy.  

Stephane Mattatia, head of Index Products EMEA and Global Thematic Index Products at MSCI, comments, “It is widely acknowledged that there are a number of megatrends which will significantly impact the global economy and societies around the world, and we’re seeing increasing demand from investors seeking to align their investments to these long-term themes. This new suite of indexes provides them with tools they need to assess and measure these structural trends.”