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Voya Adds Bereavement Benefit Services, Expands NQDC Offering
Voya Financial Inc. announced a collaboration with Empathy to provide an on-demand concierge service to offer bereaved families guidance and support for the administrative, emotional, legal and financial challenges faced after the loss of a loved one.
Voya clients enrolled in group term life insurance through their employer can access Empathy’s bereavement support.
“Through our work with employers for their benefits offerings, our focus is on helping employees and their families with the many financial and emotional challenges that they face,” said Maleiha Russell, vice president of life, absence and disability product at Voya Financial, in a statement. “By extending the resources available to our customers through our new collaboration with Empathy, we are able to further support today’s workforce by providing full-circle care to navigate the emotional and practical challenges associated with loss.”
Employees using the benefit will have access to funeral and will-planning services. Additionally, employees and beneficiaries can access Empathy’s comprehensive bereavement support that includes:
- A custom care plan, guidance from a dedicated care manager, and on-demand access to the care team; and
- Curated bereavement tools such as: help with closing accounts and creating an obituary, probate and estate administration guidance, grief resources and more.
The firm also announced the launch of additional initiatives—marketed as “Business Ready”— to its lineup of nonqualified deferred compensation business.
Voya launched the additions to provide a simplified NQDC offering, specifically designed for smaller-size employers to offer a supplement for their executive benefits package, according to an announcement.
“At Voya, we continue to see a growing interest in our executive benefit solutions—so much so that in 2023 we saw a 117% increase in total plans sold in Voya’s NQDC offerings over the prior year,” said Kirk Penland, senior vice president of nonqualified markets, in a statement. “At the same time, we also know there is not a ‘one size fits all’ solution when it comes to building an executive’s total rewards package.”
The offering is available to any Size 409A (for-profit) company but has been designed specifically for smaller employers, including those with less than 400 employees.
Fidelity Renews Commitment to Financial Education
Fidelity Investments announced a renewed commitment to financial education, activating several initiatives to bolster the continued engagement of its more than 74,000 associates with investors.
“Improving financial literacy and building lifelong financial skills is the first step to financial mobility—and through financial mobility, we can strengthen financial futures for all and realize positive change for the next generation,” said Pamela Everhart, Fidelity’s head of regional public affairs, inclusion and impact, in a release.
Fidelity has launched the following initiatives:
- FinEd champion program: This associate engagement resource will provide enhanced financial education training to volunteers so they can make direct student impact in classrooms in their community;
- In-school learning opportunities for students and their families: Fidelity launched regional pilots in Boston and Covington, Kentucky, where it collaborates with public schools to offer financial education programming to students, teachers and families by coordinating classroom visits with Fidelity associates to share their expertise; and
- Associate-driven innovation challenge: Fidelity will host an event inspired by the television show “Shark Tank” to foster ideas to advance and enhance youth financial education offerings for community partners.
BNY Mellon Joins Financial Technology Firm To Facilitate Annuity Product Investment
BNY Mellon | Pershing and Luma Financial Technologies LLC announced a collaboration to simplify the annuity investment process by providing retirement plan advisers access to Pershing’s custodial wealth management platform, NetX360+.
Using the BNY Mellon | Pershing platform, advisers will have access to Luma’s educational materials, analytics and suitability tools to help simplify and manage sales activities for all annuity products.
Additionally, using Luma’s learning center, advisers receive personalized education tools and National Association of Insurance Commissioners product training.
“Offering our clients easy access to Luma provides an enhanced annuity and retirement planning experience,” said Sareena Dalla Brookshire, chief product officer at BNY Mellon’s Pershing, in a statement. “Through Subscribe, our proprietary annuity application, Pershing clients have access to a robust set of features to help them manage their annuity business.”
IRA Technology Platform Partners With Benartzi
IRALogix Inc. announced a partnership with PensionPlus CEO and behavioral economist Shlomo Benartzi, offering a decumulation product for retirement plan assets.
U.S. workers struggle to convert retirement savings into a retirement paycheck to last the rest of their lives, and in 2024 alone, 11,000 Americans are expected to turn 65 years old, according to the announcement.
“Collaborating with IRALOGIX will allow PensionPlus to further its goal of democratizing retirement income planning for all participants, including the tens of millions of Americans relying on IRA accounts,” Benartzi said in a statement.
Confluence Adds Complex Asset Pricing Tool
Confluence Companies announced they have launched a complex asset pricing tool addressing hard-to-price assets, including credit default swaps, interest rate swaps and structured bonds.
The pricing tool is intended to support valuation processes of diverse portfolios, according to the announcement.
The pricing solution will benefit users through independent pricing, which is sourced from “leading firms”; easy integration to access data outputs through application program interface or file transfer protocol with existing infrastructure; and enhanced products coverage.
The pricing tool addresses the following investment products, complementing Confluence’s existing suite of pricing products:
- Credit default swaps, both single name and on liquid index;
- Interest rate and inflation swaps;
- Equity swaps and total return swaps;
- Foreign exchange forwards;
- OTC derivatives and options (FX, equity and commodity); and
- A wide range of structured bonds and certificates.
Allianz Investment Management Launches Uncapped ETFs
Allianz Investment Management LLC announced the launch of the AllianzIM U.S. Equity Buffer15 Uncapped Apr ETF. The ETF suite is comprised of AllianzIM U.S. equity buffered exchange-traded funds with uncapped returns.
The AllianzIM suite of ETFs offers a 15% downside buffer over a specific one-year outcome period to allow investors to capture full market growth beyond a specified spread against the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust, with no limit on returns, according to the announcement.
“During periods of bullish sentiment, investors increasingly seek strategies that can capitalize on the unlimited potential of equities, while still providing a level of protection against downside risk,” said Chris Chambs, CEO of AllianzIM, in a statement. “That’s exactly what our new Buffer15 Uncapped ETFs deliver. As markets shift with technological advancements and changing monetary policies, AllianzIM is committed to forward-thinking solutions that put our clients’ needs first.”
AllianzIm is a subsidiary of Allianz Life Insurance Co. of North America.