Products June 14, 2016

Mercer Revamps Participant Education Site

Retirement and health plan participants will access a personalized, interactive experience designed to support their specific health-, wealth-, and career-related goals, available from any mobile device or computer.
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Mercer, a wholly owned subsidiary of Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc., has revamped its participant education site, Mercer BenefitsU, the online “university” for employee well-being.

Mercer BenefitsU delivers highly relevant education within a fun, dynamic learning environment and features a robust curriculum of videos, interactive quizzes, articles and slideshows.

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“Our recent Inside Employees’ Minds survey found that only 23% of people think they’ll have enough money to cover their health expenses in retirement, and more than one-third say they’ll have to work at least part-time,” says Rich VanThournout, Mercer’s U.S. Benefits Administration Leader. “The research is clear: people are stressed and often stretched too thin between competing priorities, and our engagement strategies have to reflect this reality. With this in mind, we’re thrilled to launch a redesigned Mercer BenefitsU, which will help give people the tools and confidence they need to make practical, informed decisions when it comes to their well-being—physically, financially, emotionally, and professionally.”

To learn more, visit http://www.mercer.us/about-mercer/lines-of-business/health-and-benefits/mercer-benefitsu-online-education-for-employee-wellbeing.html.

Investing June 14, 2016

Research Predicts Growth in ETF Use by Institutional Investors

The growth will be “driven by the continued discovery of new and more sophisticated applications for the funds across investment portfolios,” says Andrew McCollum with Greenwich Associates.
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Institutional investments in exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are projected to grow to $300 billion annually by 2020, says a new report from Greenwich Associates.

According to the report, “Global Trends in Institutional ETF Adoption: Drivers for Growth Through 2020,” 2015 was a record-breaking year for ETFs as a category, which attracted more than $350 billion in new assets globally. Institutional investors are increasingly contributing to ETF demand, which has historically been driven by retail investors.

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An analysis of Greenwich’s research yielded five key drivers of institutional ETF adoption that the firm projects, together, will generate approximately $300 billion in annual investments by 2020:

  • The broadening use of ETFs across applications and asset classes will drive $132 billion in new annual demand in five years’ time;
  • The migration toward using ETFs to obtain core exposures and achieve strategic goals will produce $42 billion in annual flows;
  • Liquidity needs will fuel demand for ETFs in fixed income, driving $68 billion in new annual flows;
  • Institutions using ETFs to replace derivatives positions will produce $28 billion in flows annually; and
  • Innovative exposures such as smart-beta ETFs will attract $25 billion in annual flows.

According to Greenwich Associates, institutions that currently invest in ETFs allocate an average 15% of total assets to the funds, with allocations largest among Canadian and U.S. investors at approximately 20% of assets. The firm projects that ETF allocations will climb to 25% of total institutional assets in North America.

“While institutional equity portfolios will remain a major source of growth for some time to come, the intersection of an increasingly diverse slate of institutional needs and the inherent flexibility of the ETF structure will spur the spread of the funds into new areas and asset classes,” says Andrew McCollum, Greenwich Associates managing director and author of the report.

The report presents the results of a Greenwich Associates study for which the firm interviewed 408 institutional investors in North America, Europe and Asia, including corporate pensions, public pensions, foundations, endowments, asset managers, insurance companies, investment consultants and registered investment advisers (RIAs).

The report may be downloaded from here.

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