Investment Product and Service Launches

Art by Jackson Epstein

Titan Launches Cryptocurrency Portfolio

Titan, an investment platform, has announced the official launch of Titan Crypto.

Titan Crypto is an actively managed portfolio of cryptocurrency assets available to all U.S. investors. The mobile-first investment company says it allows Titan clients to access the world’s top growth investments with no previous knowledge or understanding of cryptocurrency and zero performance-based fees or lockups.

The strategy seeks to invest in a concentrated basket of crypto assets that can outperform over a long-term time horizon and is actively managed by Titan’s in-house crypto investing team.

“The adoption of cryptocurrencies and blockchain protocols is exploding, and we expect this trend to prove structural and long term in nature. We see the wrong debate being had—it’s not a matter of if crypto deserves a place in portfolios; it’s a matter of what percentage,” says Clay Gardner, co-founder and co-CEO at Titan.

American Equity Investment Life Insurance Introduces EstateShield Index

American Equity Investment Life Insurance Co. has launched a new fixed-index annuity called the EstateShield.

The 10-year retirement product is designed to help clients meet life’s financial changes during the accumulation, income and estate planning stages of retirement.

The EstateShield has tools for building income reserves, with 12 interest crediting options, and one- and two-year crediting strategies that are linked to five different indexes.

To strengthen a client’s retirement income base, plus provide the opportunity for rising lifetime income payments and the potential for enhanced legacy benefits, the product has a benefits account value (BAV) tool, which is used to calculate lifetime income payments and/or the enhanced death benefit.

Lifetime income payments can begin after 10 years, but there is no limitation on how long the money can grow, as long as the contract is active. Meanwhile, contract owners can withdraw up to 10% of purchase payments each year, beginning after the first year, penalty free.

“EstateShield contract owners have multiple tools geared toward building resources to create a supplemental income stream that cannot be outlived while ensuring legacy options for loved ones,” says American Equity President Ron Grensteiner.

Natixis Investment Managers Combines Businesses to Single Division

Natixis Investment Managers has unified several sub-branded businesses related to direct indexing, overlay and multi-asset portfolios, along with its consulting business, under a single division called “Natixis Investment Managers Solutions.”

The combined business has $45 billion in assets under administration (AUA) and will be led by co-heads Curt Overway and Marina Gross.

“The tremendous growth of our business has led to a need for a more streamlined approach. We are confident that the newly unified Natixis Investment Managers Solutions will offer clients an even better experience while helping them continue to meet long-term financial goals,” says David Giunta, CEO of Natixis Investment Managers in the U.S.

As a result, the firm’s direct indexing capabilities, formerly housed in its Active Index Advisors (AIA) division, will now be provided as part of Natixis Investment Managers Solutions and the AIA name as a division will be retired. Similarly, the integrated portfolio implementation capability, formerly under Managed Portfolio Advisors (MPA), will now be offered by the new division, and the name MPA will be retired. The firm says the changes will be seamless for clients and their accounts, as well as their legal contracts, and all current Natixis employees of the individual sub-brands have become employees of the unified business division.

In addition to direct indexing and integrated portfolio implementation, the combined Natixis Investment Managers Solutions division provides capabilities such as model portfolios, which encompass standard and customized strategies managed by specialized teams. Model portfolios offer a more consistent investment process for clients and allow advisers more time to address client needs. Also within the newly combined business sits the Natixis Sustainable Future Funds, which are designed for retirement investors who want to generate sustainable long-term returns.

“Natixis has been a leading provider of innovative investment solutions for nearly two decades. Bringing these capabilities together under one roof as Natixis Investment Managers Solutions represents our continued efforts to deliver best-in-class investment solutions for our clients,” Overway says.

“By unifying our innovative products and investment solutions under the leadership of a single team, we are seeking to provide the most seamless, top-notch experience for our clients,” Gross adds.

Morningstar Retirement Manager to Support Allianz Life Annuity Products

Allianz Life Insurance Co. of North America has teamed up with Morningstar Investment Management LLC to help individuals allocate their retirement savings to its annuity products through the Morningstar Retirement Manager service. The Allianz Lifetime Income+ Annuity with the Lifetime Income Benefit will be the first Allianz Life product to be added as Allianz Life enters the defined contribution (DC) market.

Morningstar Retirement Manager is a managed accounts and advice service that helps individuals at every stage of their retirement journey with personalized and independent advice on how much to save, how to invest, when to take Social Security and more. The service will even manage an individual’s investment strategy on an ongoing basis.

The addition of the Allianz Life annuity means Morningstar Retirement Manager users with access to the annuity through their retirement plan can contribute to a new product designed to help them mitigate against risk in retirement via guaranteed income. Only individuals whose retirement plan offers both Morningstar Retirement Manager and the Allianz Life annuity will have access to this expanded service offering.

“Morningstar Investment Management is an established leader in retirement services that will help us reach many more people seeking guaranteed income options as part of their retirement plan,” says Matt Gray, head of employer markets, Allianz Life. “Through Morningstar Retirement Manager, individuals receive recommendations to help ensure that they are allocating the right amount of their investable assets to guaranteed income at the right time for what could likely be a lengthy retirement.”

Allianz Life recently announced its entry into the DC market. Allianz Lifetime Income+ is a fixed index annuity that offers innovative design features including growth potential, protection from market loss and guaranteed lifetime income through the lifetime income benefit, which has the potential to increase annually for life to help address the effects of inflation.

“As a new entrant into this market, our relationship with Morningstar Investment Management puts in place an immediate and strong infrastructure that will enable us to better reach and serve the growing defined contribution market,” Gray adds. “This relationship will serve to simplify the integration of annuities into sponsored plans, which is an important step in making guaranteed income options more widely available.”

“Morningstar Retirement Manager has been helping retirees spend down their retirement savings in a sustainable way for over a decade,” says Brock Johnson, president of global retirement and workplace solutions, Morningstar Investment Management. “Our ability to help individuals determine how to allocate to guaranteed income products like Allianz Life Income+ gives us more flexibility to help individuals achieve their retirement goals.”

DriveWealth Teams Up With HSA Provider

DriveWealth LLC, which specializes in fractional investing and embedded finance, has announced a partnership with health savings account (HSA) provider SavingsOak.

Through this partnership, SavingsOak is leveraging DriveWealth’s comprehensive investing infrastructure, offering a broad array of modern investment options. Participants will be able to invest small amounts on a dollar equivalent basis (i.e., fractional shares) in balanced, diversified portfolios of U.S. equities and exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

SavingsOak’s offering provides an opportunity to invest unused funds in HSAs to better manage health care costs.

“We’re thrilled that SavingsOak has leveraged the consultative support of DriveHSA, while integrating DriveWealth’s comprehensive brokerage platform,” says Stan Smith, managing director of DriveHSA. “We believe SavingsOak will be extremely successful based on its deep expertise and how it’s looking at HSAs through the lens of the participant versus that of the platform provider. It also brings a fresh set of ideas and tools centered on the value of investing within an HSA account, which can help drive a more engaging end-user experience.”

“At SavingsOak, our goal is to build the retirement savings platform for the 99%, guided by the foundational belief that investing in one’s health and finances should be done as a comprehensive strategy,” says Neeraj Mathur, founder and CEO of SavingsOak. “As such, having best-in-class investment capabilities and experience is one of our top priorities. As a leader in modern brokerage infrastructure, DriveWealth is playing a critical role in helping us achieve our mission.”