Retirement Industry People Moves

TIAA Hires New President; Mass Mutual Appoints Community Responsibility Director; Mercer Acquires Thomsons Online Benefits; and more.

 

TIAA Hires New President
 
Vijay Advani has joined TIAA Global Asset Management as the firm’s new president and chief operating officer. He officially assumes these roles on January 9, 2017. Advani will lead global distribution as well as drive technology and analytics initiatives for portfolio management and product development.
 
Advani will also lead management committees charged with ensuring the firm continues offering a client experience that integrates distribution, solutions and marketing.
 
He will report to Rob Leary, CEO of TIAA Global Asset Management. He will work closely with Leary and other senior leaders to design and drive strategy for the firm.

Advani joins from Franklin Templeton Investments, where he was co-president. In that role, he was responsible for long-term strategic initiatives, investment management and trading, as well as global retail and institutional distribution. With more than 20 years of experience in the industry, Advani has specialized in product development, client relationship and marketing roles in Asia, Eastern Europe and Africa. He also served as president of Templeton Asset Management, India. Prior to joining Franklin Templeton, he spent 11 years at the International Finance Corporation, the World Bank Group unit responsible for helping governments develop securities and financial markets.

NEXT: Mass Mutual Appoints Community Responsibility Director

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Mass Mutual Appoints Community Responsibility Director

Dennis Duquette has returned to Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company as the firm’s new head of community responsibility and president of the Mass Mutual Foundation. Duquette launched his career with the company when he joined as a member of its community relations team.

In his new role, Duquette will lead MassMutual’s community engagement efforts including such initiatives as the FutureSmart program, which helps young people hone their financial-literacy skills; LifeBridge, which provides income-eligible families with free term life insurance that protects their children’s education; and Mutual Impact, the company’s employee giving program.

Duquette enters this new role with more than 30 years of experience in the financial services industry under his belt. His expertise includes oversight of community relations and brand development. He will be based in the company’s Springfield headquarters and report to MassMutual Head of Brand and Advertising Jennifer Halloran.  

Prior to joining MassMutual, Duquette was with Fidelity Investments where he expanded Fidelity’s corporate presence and sponsorships across the United States, and managed FidelityCares, an employee volunteerism program that also provides philanthropic support to non-profit organizations.

Duquette earned his master’s degree in public policy and administration from Northwestern University and another in administrative studies from Boston College, where he also earned his bachelor’s degree in English and communications. 

NEXT: Mercer Acquires Thomsons Online Benefits

Mercer Acquires Thomsons Online Benefits

Global consulting firm Mercer has agreed to acquire Thomsons Online Benefits, a benefits software provider leveraging the Darwin platform. The two firms will aim to combine consulting and brokerage services with technology that changes the way benefits are designed, communicated and administered.

“The combination of Thomsons’ Darwin technology with Mercer aligns to the growing demand from multinational employers to offer a common yet locally tailored employee benefits platform that delivers the latest in creative engagement, modern design, analytic insights and administrative efficiency and support,” says Julio Portalatin, president and CEO of Mercer. “The acquisition also drives future growth in local markets across the world where Thomsons and Mercer are already well established by putting technology at the heart of addressing employer and employee needs.”

Thomsons CEO Michael Whitfield projects the acquisition will further allow his firm to “scale the development of Darwin faster globally, as well as locally. I am also delighted about the career and personal development opportunities that this move offers to Thomsons’ employees all over the world."

Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

NEXT: T. Rowe Price Hires Retirement Sales Executive

T. Rowe Price Hires Retirement Sales Executive

Scott Redfield has joined T. Rowe Price Retirement Plan Services as the firm’s new vice president and senior retirement sales executive for the Midwest. He will focus his efforts on large-market sales in the region. 

Redfield brings more than 15 years of experience in the defined contribution (DC) industry, which includes more than a decade of sales expertise at T. Rowe Price. Most recently, he served as vice president of Institutional Markets at Transamerica Retirement Solutions. In this role, he was tasked with selling and marketing Transamerica’s recordkeeping services to 401(k), 403(b), and nonqualified prospects throughout Colorado, Arizona, Nebraska, New Mexico, and Oklahoma. He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Northern Colorado.

“Scott is a terrific addition to our growing sales team in the U.S.,” says Kevin Collins, head of sales at T. Rowe Price Retirement Plan Service. “His proven skills and deep expertise will help further efforts to grow our large-market retirement client base in the Midwest region.”

NEXT: Allianz Life Insurance Appoints Head of Relationship Management

Allianz Life Insurance Appoints Head of Relationship Management

Corey Walther has been appointed by the Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America as the firm’s new head of distribution relationship management. He officially assumes this position on January 1, 2017. He will be tasked with leading business development and sales growth for the firm’s broker/dealer distribution channels. He will reportto Allianz Life Financial Services LLC CEO Tom Burns.

Walther has served several leadership roles with Allianz Life since joining in 1998 including senior vice president of strategic accounts and head of advisory distribution. He most recently served as chief operating officer and chief compliance officer for Allianz Life Financial Services. He will continue to serve as chief compliance officer until his replacement is named.

Walther holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from Moorhead State University in Minnesota and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Minnesota, Carlson School of Management. He also is a member of the Allianz Financial Literacy Committee which works closely with organizations such as Junior Achievement and BestPrep. He also serves as chairperson and board member for Twin Cities in Motion, a non-profit organization with a mission of promoting healthy lifestyles through community outreach and running events such as the Twin Cities Marathon.

Institutional Investors Anticipate Market Evolution in 2017

Populism is challenging globalism and creating new tail risks; concerns about low growth are giving way to concerns about inflation.

Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM) is out with one of its first 2017 market analyses, arguing that “the long post-crisis economic recovery” is likely to continue during the year to come.

“As a base case, we think growth is poised to broaden out to more countries, with the global economy drawing on more sources of strength than at any point since 2010,” the analysis contends.

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Yet there are clearly points of concern and uncertainty in global markets—as well as in the U.S.

“In some respects, our outlook represents an extension of the same long cycle we envisioned heading into 2016,” researchers explain. “The key difference for 2017 revolves around four emerging transitions. Populism is challenging globalism and creating new tail risks. Concerns about low growth are giving way to concerns about inflation. Years of focus on monetary policy are giving way to a close watch over fiscal policy. And concerns about new regulation are acceding to hopes for de-regulation.”

From an investment perspective, GSAM researchers are broadly supportive of utilizing risk assets in 2017.

“We prefer equities over credit and credit over rates, but we expect low returns from these traditional exposures given 1) elevated valuations, 2) limited upside for corporate earnings from current levels and 3) limits to economic growth potential,” the analysis projects. “Broadening exposure beyond conventional stocks and bonds, identifying opportunities in emerging markets and deploying more dynamic asset allocation strategies are some ways to adapt.”

The analysis goes on to propose several key questions institutional investors should consider in shaping their approach to markets next year.

“Is it time to de-risk?” they ask. “No. We think de-risking would be premature, at least from a purely return-generating standpoint. We expect the macro environment to remain supportive of risk assets during 2017 amid a slow-but-steady expansion in developed markets and an acceleration of growth in some emerging markets … We believe the concerns about the developed world being mired in a pattern of underinvestment and stalled growth—so-called secular stagnation—are overdone.”

According to GSAM, the transition to populism in key markets will be an evolving theme in 2017, and one that all sorts of investors should watch carefully. 

“We will be closely monitoring the strength of the populist trend given its potential to impact Europe even further and the increased likelihood of more protectionist trade policies,” GSAM notes. “The first 100 days of the Trump administration will be critical for assessing policy details and priorities, from tax rates to trade agreements.”

The full GSAM analysis is available for download here

NEXT: Natixis projects a similar picture 

Natixis Global Asset Management is another firm to have recently released a preliminary 2017 investment outlook, this one based on a survey of 500 institutional investors who manage corporate pensions and DC plans, public pensions, sovereign wealth funds, insurance funds as well as endowments and foundations.

Similar to the GSAM findings, Natixis researchers project emerging markets stocks, private equity and high-yield bonds will do well in 2017. On the other hand, investors are skeptical about U.S. stocks, real estate and government bonds, according to Natixis.

“Geopolitical risk ranks Number 1 in investor concerns,” Natixis researchers suggest. “Investors say the biggest causes of market volatility will be geopolitical events, such as Brexit.”

At a high level, Natixis finds institutional investors plan to shift more toward alternative investments in 2017, raising their allocations to 22% from 18%. They will raise stock allocations slightly and cut bond holdings. Interestingly, institutional investors actually project they will use passive investments less in 2017 than they previously believed—though this remains an evolving area.

Among other investment industry service providers to share outlook data with PLANADVISER was NerdWallet—focused more on the service of individual investors. Not surprisingly, the firm finds financial anxiety ran high in 2016 and will likely do the same next year.

“Three out of four Americans had some type of financial worry,” the firm reports. “The top financial concerns are health care bills and expenses (35%), lack of emergency savings (35%), lack of retirement savings (28%) and credit card debt (27%). Further, Americans report low confidence in their retirement savings.”

While retirement was the most commonly cited savings priority (28%), only 29% of Americans report that they feel confident that they saved enough in 2016. There is little sign that anything like a dramatic improvement in this figure should be expected in the years ahead.

“Of those who have a workplace retirement account, only 15% planned to max out their retirement plan for 2016,” NerdWallet reports. “Only a fifth (21%) of Americans who are saving for retirement have plans to max out their IRA for this year … 30% of Americans report that they are currently not saving for retirement at all, including 43% of millennials ages 18 to 34 … 2017 doesn’t look any better.”

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