News

American Banker reported that, for its Most Powerful Women program, it has “chosen some specific types of roles that have taken on outsize importance in recent times and, within each category, highlighted a few extraordinary female leaders who stand out.” In the Most Powerful Women in ESG category, Voya Investment Management CEO Christine Hurtsellers is listed among the women who “are on the forefront and effecting change at their companies and beyond in their distinct roles.” American Banker says ESG principles “are quickly becoming part of the mainstream and being applied by businesses across every aspect of their operations.”

FundFire reports a recent Cerulli Associates survey found that distribution teams “are increasingly turning to data analytics to drive faster growth but are running into challenges in pulling the right data together and convincing wholesalers to actually use the tools they put in place.” The survey showed 95% of distribution executives cited “insufficient technology infrastructure” as “very challenging” or “somewhat challenging” to efforts in data analytics. Moreover, 70% of distribution executives “considered sourcing data to be either very or somewhat challenging.” Voya Investment Management Head of Distribution Enablement and Intelligence Jane Conway said many asset management firms make large investments in core platforms “and spend a lot of money on data without a blueprint or a way to integrate that data into an infrastructure that supports the distribution ecosystem.”

FundFire reports, “After being forced to adapt to the rapid changes brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic, asset managers are embracing a new normal as they adopt hybrid strategies to integrate traditional and digital distribution models.” Industry leaders “reflected on the changing distribution landscape during a panel at the Financial Times’ Future of Asset Management North America conference on Thursday.” Voya Investment Management CEO Christine Hurtsellers said, “What used to take a wholesaler three hours to prepare for ... now takes our wholesalers five minutes.” Hurtsellers added that she “can’t underscore enough how important continuing to invest in data is for the industry.”

In a press release distributed by Business Wire, Voya Financial announced “that it has published its 2020-2021 Impact Report, which provides an overview of Voya’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) activities and performance from Jan. 1, 2020, through June 30, 2021.” Voya Financial Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rodney O. Martin, Jr., said, “Our Impact Report reflects our commitment to making a positive difference in the world around us as it continues to evolve. This includes how our employees rose to the extraordinary challenges of the past 18 months – continually improving how we work together and serve our clients and communities.”

US News & World Report reported this year’s gathering in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, billed as the Federal Reserve Board’s research symposium, “comes as the Federal Reserve is facing crucial decisions about whether and when to pull back on its highly accommodative monetary policy, which has kept interest rates low and helped stabilize the economy and the markets for 17 months.” Most observers expect any interest rate cuts “to begin next year with interest rate hikes not before the end of 2022 or perhaps not even until 2023,” but that “calculation has run into a wall of uncertainty amid the rise in coronavirus infections from the delta variant, which has led many governments, schools and businesses to impose new restrictions such as mask mandates and vaccine requirements.” The Fed “is very conscious of the reality that the markets are pretty much geared to low rates forever,” says Amit Sinha, head of multi asset design at Voya Investment Management. “Anything that allows the Fed to continue their easy stance for longer, they would rather be late to tightening than early.”

In an opinion piece for TheStreet, Voya Investment Management Head of Multi-Asset Design Amit Sinha says alternative investments in a portfolio have become more important than ever, and the market for those products “is only getting bigger.” Long accessible only for “large institutional investors, endowments, and the wealthy,” investments such as hedge funds, private credit, and private equity “have now been democratized to where the average investor can access these products and join what had once been an elite club.” This development is partially the result of “dramatic improvements in investment technology, bringing greater transparency, knowledge and access to various investment products with the potential for additional alpha generation.”

In an opinion piece for the ABA Banking Journal (8/18), Voya Investment Management’s Bank Advisory Group Co-Managers Randy Cameron and David Wood say community banks today “are flush with cash,” but they are having trouble finding growth opportunities while “earning as little as zero to 10 basis points ... when the industry’s cost of funds generally exceeds this return by a fair margin.” For banks searching for growth, the authors “believe an answer lies within the syndicated loan market for secured C&I loans.” Firms like Voya “work directly with the agent banks to consolidate all of the borrowers’ data,” and Voya analysts “re-underwrite the transactions to bank-like standards for their client banks.” Cameron and Wood say the “relative value and efficiencies of this portfolio, combined with liquidity and flexibility that banks simply do not have with a local C&I portfolio, make these products something that community banks should consider.”

Go Banking Rates reported rising prices “are not fading away as quickly as the optimists had hoped — inflation, it seems, is here to stay.” While the short-term inflation “that’s causing sticker shock at the grocery store and the used car lot grabs all the headlines,” creeping price increases “that are just now on the horizon might present the bigger danger.” However, Voya Investment Management Head of Multi-Asset Design Amit Sinha said, “I worry more about non-pandemic-related inflation in retirement such as rising healthcare costs rather than short-term pandemic-related inflation.” Sinha added, “Typically, areas of the economy that face less competition tend to have greater sustained inflation. For retirees, this is likely to be healthcare. The only way to prepare in my opinion would be to make sure you have sufficient savings for sustained increases in these types of expenses. Using health saving accounts (HSAs) may be a way to achieve this.”

In an opinion piece for Financial Advisor Magazine Voya Investment Management CEO Christine Hurtsellers writes that over her “career in money management in several organizations — both public and private — I’ve seen the difference that a strong, innovative culture can provide — not only in terms of generating investment returns, but also for our firm’s employees.” Hurtsellers notes that despite how much has been “written over the years about the benefits of a diverse workforce ... the financial services industry still lags behind,” with, for example, Morningstar showing “that in the U.S., only one in 10 funds were led by a female portfolio manager.” This must change, Hurtsellers says, “especially if we want to adapt to evolving client needs and to truly deliver solutions that reflect the benefits of diverse thinking.” Hurtsellers adds, “if our industry is to thrive, everyone from the C-suite, to the fund managers to the support teams needs to adapt. Those that do will create great cultures that enable success for employees, shareholders and clients.”

In an interview with columnist Barry Ritholtz for Bloomberg Opinion’s Masters in Business podcast, posted to Ritholtz’s The Big Picture blog, Voya Investment Management CEO Christine Hurtsellers discussed “how her firm managed its way through the pandemic: The challenge was keeping employees engaged and mentally healthy even as they were feeling detached during the entire year.” Hurtsellers also discussed how her “prior experience as a bond fund manager — she was CIO of Fixed Income at Voya, managed the $650 billion retained portfolio of GSE wraps at Freddie Mac, and PM for securitized assets at Alliance Capital Management — affected her outlook on equities, elevating the preservation of capital as a key part of her investment philosophy.” Hurtsellers also explained “how raising five children, including one on the autism spectrum, has given her insights into the challenges for working mothers.”