Investment Product and Service Launches

Nationwide Partners With MassMutual Ascend on Advisory Annuities

Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. and MassMutual Ascend, a subsidiary of MassMutual, have launched advisory fixed-income annuity products for use by registered investment advisers.

Nationwide will distribute the three MassMutual Ascend advisory fixed-indexed annuity solutions geared at protecting RIA clients from investment risk.

The advisory fixed-indexed annuity solution additions include:

• Index Protector 4: Multiple indexed strategies, diversification for fee-based portfolios and early withdrawal charges that end after four years;
  
  
• Index Protector 5: Multiple indexed strategies, diversification for fee-based portfolios and market value adjustments that end after five years; and
  
  
• Index Protector 7: Multiple indexed strategies, diversification for fee-based portfolios, a return-of-premium guarantee, an optional income rider and early withdrawal charges that end after seven years.

“The biggest challenges for growth in the fee-based annuity industry are education and exposure. Investment advisers have not had access to these types of solutions in the past,” Tony Compton, divisional vice president for broker/dealer and RIA sales at MassMutual Ascend, said in a statement. “With Nationwide and MassMutual Ascend working together, we expect to tackle those issues head on and bring these valuable annuity benefits to more financial professionals and, ultimately, the American consumers.”

Integrity Launches AI-Backed “Ask Integrity” for Benefits Assistance

Integrity Marketing Group LLC, an insurance, wealth and retirement planning solutions provider, has launched Ask Integrity, an AI-powered and voice-activated system to speed and improve agents’ work with clients.

Ask Integrity, which provides “in-the-moment prompts” for agents when working with clients, is available for Integrity partners through its insurance technology platform. The system is designed to provide more personalization for clients by giving agents instant, voice-activated access to health care and drug coverage, medications, and preferences and perspectives. The platform also includes a proprietary analytics model that can help agents know which clients might be most interested in switching coverage, according to the company.

“By leveraging Ask Integrity’s intuitive, data-driven features and functions, agents can [more quickly] and more compliantly reference relevant details and context to bring the right solutions to the individuals and families they serve,” Bryan W. Adams, co-founder and CEO of Integrity, said in a statement.

The system can automatically analyze client data to correlate the use of certain medications with the potential need for access to specific specialists, according to the firm. An agent is then prompted to probe deeper into each client’s situation and recommend coverage that fits the client.

NewEdge Wealth Debuts Ultra-High-Net-Worth Investment Platform

NewEdge Wealth LLC, a registered investment adviser focused on ultra-high-net-worth families, family offices and institutional clients, announced a new investment platform for third-party financial professionals and institutions.

NewEdge Investment Solutions is designed to provide advisers with access to investments that are hard to get into, find or have structural advantages themselves, according to the firm.

The platform will offer investment opportunities, including structured notes and managed investment strategies utilizing them. The NewEdge structured note strategies team is led by Michaelangelo Dooley, portfolio manager and principal in NewEdge, and aims to “ease the burdens” that financial advisers face when implementing structured note strategies, according to the firm.

“Our strategies are designed to deliver superior outcomes while producing returns which may be difficult to achieve through conventional equity and bond markets,” Dooley said in a statement.

Voya Financial Developing Dual Investment Defaults

Voya Financial is working to launch dual qualified default investment alternative options, enticing plan sponsors by offering greater personalization of participants’ retirement investments to win market share from rivals and attract defined contribution plan assets to its managed account products.

The dual default development is a QDIA enhancement currently “in the pipeline” to attract retirement plan sponsors and retirement plan advisers, according to a Voya spokesperson.

Voya expects the dual default QDIA product will attract retirement assets by virtue of its potential to provide plan participants with tailored retirement investments and greater sophistication for asset allocation inside a managed account. The New York City-based recordkeeper and asset manager did not reveal timing of the launch, fees or any additional details.

“As part of our ongoing efforts to build on our advice and guidance solutions at Voya, we are currently working on functionality to support multiple scenarios around ‘Dual QDIA’ offerings, specifically with our fiduciary managed account solution,” Jason White, Voya’s director of advisory services, said by email. “This includes capabilities to support combinations such as [target-date funds] or custom TDFs as the first QDIA, while helping plan sponsors with setting up a transition age for their employees. Once those participants reach their transition age, they would then be moved into the second QDIA of the fiduciary managed account program.”

Participants can opt in, opt out or cancel the managed account program at any time, the Voya spokesperson said.