News

Bloomberg reports on the market impact of Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine on Thursday, which resulted in increased volatility in global bond markets. Voya Investment Management Chief Investment Officer Matt Toms believes that “the escalated uncertainty in Ukraine, and the spike in commodity prices, moderates the outlook for global growth and therefore increases the risk for corporate credit.” The heightened risk means new bond sales will likely shut down for the remainder of the week, according to people familiar with the matter.

Appearing on Bloomberg, Voya IM’s Senior Portfolio Manager and head of Asset Allocation discussed the markets’ response to the January Labor Report and the latest announcements from the Federal Reserve. 

FundFire highlights several recent promotions made by Voya IM, including: Dina Santoro becoming the first COO, Jake Tuzza becoming the head of distribution, and Paul Bernardi, Troy Chakarun, and Hugh Ferry being named leaders of the intermediary distribution team.

Voya IM CEO Christine Hurtsllers spoke with Ignites editor Emily Laermer about how Voya educates both their advisors and their clients. Hurtsellers says it is important for Voya advisors to “have good education, good material to then help their client base.” In order to give their clients the best advice, Hurtsllers says Voya is “spending more time on education and educational resources that advisors need in order to make some of this more understandable and easier for their clients.”

Voya Investment Management (Voya IM), the asset management business of Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE: VOYA), announced today several leadership promotions and appointments to support Voya IM’s growth plans.

Annual recognition highlights company’s commitment to providing solutions and technologies that help individuals reach financial goals with confidence.

Appearing on Bloomberg TV Voya Fixed Income CIO Matt Toms spoke on the market’s reactions to Federal Reserve Chairman Powell’s comments on how the Fed is planning to fight inflation. Toms said the market is currently reacting to a “calm, measured” reaction from the Fed as Chairman Powell announced the doubling of tapering and expected rate hikes. Toms said the market is still expecting inflation to be “moderating” over the next few years. Toms believes that while it is hard to predict an exact timeline, he believes the Fed’s current timeline of ending tapering in March and beginning rate hikes is a good estimate. Minus a sharp rise in inflation that would deserve a more harsh reaction, Toms believes the current plan from the Fed is good for the equity market. Toms also believes that increasingly higher prices will push consumer spending down, which will get rid of some of the “inflationary push.”

Ignites reports Voya Investment Management CEO Christine Hurtsellers said the pandemic had “quite a bit” of an impact on data and analytics. Hurtsellers said that while it took Voya “a number of years ... to actually make sure we have really quick mobile tools using multiple sources of data,” the company currently has “a lot of bifurcated data that you actually need to bring together into one thoughtful resource for our sales team.” Hurtsellers says the ability to do so has increased productivity and allows Voya’s employees to “spend a lot more time actually engaging with clients as opposed to getting ready for meetings.”

Pensions & Investments reports Voya Investment Management has appointed Laura Kane as head of ESG research, a newly established position. P&I says, “In this position, Ms. Kane is responsible for leading Voya’s ‘ESG investment research process across all of the firm’s investment platforms (equity, fixed income, multiasset strategies)’ as well as ‘overseeing and building out a team of ESG-focused analysts’ in order to advance Voya analysts’ and portfolio managers’ ‘understanding and consideration of ESG factors into their investment processes.’” Voya’s co-head of Fundamental Research and Kane’s superior said, “Our objective is to systematically research and compare environmental, social and governance factors for all the companies in which we invest and consider how these factors may affect a company’s long-term potential performance by addressing emerging risks and opportunities. Laura brings a wealth of expertise in this regard. That expertise, combined with the work we have done already, means we are well positioned to integrate ESG into our investment process across all of our asset classes.”

PlanAdviser reports Voya Investment Management released the findings of its third annual plan sponsor and defined contribution specialist advisor survey. The survey “found sponsors and DC specialists continue to share views on many aspects of retirement plan support and service, but where differences exist, they indicate that DC specialists feel their services add greater value than plan sponsors recognize — pointing to an opportunity for DC specialists to better demonstrate their value.” Voya IM’s head of Intermediary Distribution Jake Tuzza said on the survey, “Sponsors told us they are looking to specialists for a broad spectrum of advice and want higher levels of expertise, which again underscores the need for specialists to make sponsors aware of all that they can do.” The survey found “upticks in sponsor recognition that DC specialists help keep plan costs reasonable (93%) and that DC specialist compensation is proportional to the support provided (85%). Also encouraging, Voya says sponsors are more likely to say they understand the DC specialist’s compensation and fee disclosures (73%).” Tuzza added, “Given the results of this survey, there are things specialists can do that demonstrate their value. For example, articulate your value by drawing up an inventory of the services you provide to each sponsor and assess yourself on how closely your services focus on their priorities. We also recommend embracing ESG (environmental, social and governance) in the investment selection process. We expect to see increased demand for ESG strategies — especially as younger employees come to represent a greater percentage of plan participants.”