Bello Tapped for New Role in ING's Intermediary Corporate Markets

Pat Bello, formerly head of Mid Market Sales and Business Development for ING U.S. Retirement Services, has been selected to lead the northeast sales region for ING's Intermediary Corporate Markets.

According to an announcement, Bello replaces Bill Elmslie, who was promoted in August to head up all Intermediary Corporate Markets Distribution and Service for ING U.S. Retirement Services.  

ING’s Intermediary Corporate Markets segment focuses on 401(k) plans with less than $150 million in defined contribution assets. Recently, the group surpassed the $2 billion sales mark for 2009 and plans to capitalize on this strong momentum into 2010.  

In his new role, Bello will manage a team of 16 that covers 14 states. Bello holds one of the six positions that report to Elmslie, each with their own respective teams. These include four sales regions, a national channel management group, and the customer relations & marketing function.   

Elmslie reports to Richard Mason, president of Corporate Markets for ING U.S. Retirement Services.  Mason’s business includes ING’s Intermediary Corporate Markets, the Institutional Corporate Market (greater than $150 million in assets), the Defined Benefit Market and ING’s investment platform for the U.S. Retirement Services organization.

Investors Choose International over Domestic Equities

For the third consecutive month, investors deposited a $40 billion-plus amount into bond funds, bringing year-to-date bond fund flow volumes to an enormous $330 billion, according to data from Strategic Insight (SI), an Asset International company.

SI’s Highlights of October 2009 Mutual Fund Industry results showed equity fund flows, on the other hand, remained small in October, as investors remained wary of stocks for the most part. SI said it projects only a slow recovery in stock fund sales next year, and for high bond fund demand to persist.

International equity fund flows rose to $14 billion in October, while U.S. equity funds suffered net outflows (for the second straight month), reducing the aggregate equity fund net flow total for October to $7 billion. U.S. dollar depreciation and concerns have boosted flows into international/global equity funds in 2009, which have brought in roughly $70 billion on a net basis over the April-October period this year, double the volume received by U.S. equity funds over the same period, the report said.

Assets in money-market mutual funds, where investors are currently earning near-zero yields, declined by an additional $64 billion in October, as shifts to higher-yielding investments persisted.

ETF/ETN flows totaled $7 billion in October, and were driven by Diversified Emerging Market equity; Inverse-exposure; Short- and Intermediate-term and Inflation-Protected Bond; and Precious Metals funds. Year-to-date through October, ETFs/ETNs have collectively garnered an estimated $70 billion in net new flows, compared to the same period last year, when the products had captured $110 billion in net flows through October.

Actively managed U.S.-focused equity/hybrid funds suffered net outflows of about $8 billion in October.

Among smaller-size managers of long-term funds, those that led in total long-term fund flows in October were TCW, Van Eck, Manning & Napier, Rafferty Asset Management, Sentinel Asset Management, Metropolitan West Asset Management, International Value Advisors, Matthews Asian Funds, Lazard Asset Management, and Henderson Global.

Among the largest firms (firms with more than $20 billion in long-term fund assets under management), those garnering the most long-term fund flows were PIMCO/Allianz Global ($10.2 billion); Vanguard ($9.9 billion); Barclays Global Investors ($3.7 billion); JPMorgan ($3.7 billion); Franklin Templeton ($3 billion); Wells Fargo ($1.7 billion); BlackRock ($1.4 billion); Northern Trust ($1.3 billion); T. Rowe Price ($1.2 billion); and Goldman Sachs ($1.1 billion).


The SI report can be accessed by members at www.sionline.com.

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