News

Voya Senior Portfolio Manager and Head of Asset Allocation Barbara Reinhard was on Bloomberg TV  discussing how markets have responded to geopolitical uncertainty, the decline in COVID cases and rising inflation levels. Looking at the likelihood of a strong Federal Reserve response to rising inflation levels, Reinhard said, “I don’t think you are necessarily going to get a monetary policy response. The Federal Reserve has a price stability mandate. They have very high consumer prices at this time, but I think the real channel for the Fed to be watching is going to be through the wage channel. If wages settle back down and you get crude back down, that would be a relatively very good scenario.”

Voya CIO for Fixed Income Matt Toms was recently on Bloomberg discussing the fixed income sector, specifically the “impact of geopolitical tensions, inflation, and a preview of next week’s FOMC meeting.” Toms’ segment begins near the 48-minute mark, where he notes that an economic slowdown “absolutely changes the investment landscape. You really have a tug of war between the upside to inflationary pressure that has gotten so much attention over the last six to eight months and downside pressure – not just from the long-term disinflationary influences that seem to be abating, but from the growth standpoint. There is certainly a stagflationary impulse, and what this means for fixed income is that there’s a downside risk tail we need to be aware of from a credit risk standpoint.”

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.

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.”

Ignites provides the transcript for an interview with Voya Investment Management CEO Christine Hurtsellers. When asked about the “tech trends that have most impacted mutual fund distribution,” Hurtsellers said, “It really goes to customized portfolios, customized advice and model portfolios. So one of the things that we’ve done is developed a partnership with a large wealth manager where we provide model portfolios for less-high-net-worth individuals. So think about people that have fewer assets.”