The Markets February 17, 2015

Investors Prefer Passive Equity Strategies in January

In total, U.S. Equity funds saw outflows in January.
Reported by

Net flows to stock and bond funds totaled $30.5 billion in January, led by a $14.9 billion net intake to Taxable Bond funds, according to Strategic Insight (SI), an Asset International company.

SI notes that January aggregates are distorted due to $26 billion of redemptions from the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (exchange-traded fund); excluding that outflow, industry flows to stock and bond funds neared $60 billion in January.

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U.S. Equity funds slipped into outflows during a volatile month, losing $2.7 billion. U.S. Equity index funds took in $17.6 billion; however, active funds had outflows of $6.8 billion, and U.S. Equity exchange-traded products posted outflows of $13.6 billion in January.

Actively managed International Equity funds attracted $3.4 billion of net new investment in January, while index funds and exchange-traded funds saw inflows of $4.1 billion and $5.4 billion, respectively.

Tax-Free Bond funds saw inflows of $5.5 billion, lifting total bond fund intake to $20.4 billion in January. Money Market funds posted a net outflow of $47.1 billion.

Sectors with highest January flows among actively managed Equity mutual funds included Health ($2.0 billion), International Total Return ($1.4 billion), and Balanced ($1.2 billion). Top Bond fund flow objectives during the month included Corporate Bond General ($6.9 billion), Corporate High Quality ($3.4 billion) and Corporate High Yield ($3.3 billion).

More about Strategic Insight is at www.sionline.com.

Deals & People February 17, 2015

OneAmerica Reports Progress on Sales Realignment

Financial services provider OneAmerica added three regional sales staff to support the realignment of its field services and national accounts teams.
Reported by

OneAmerica says the addition of three sales staffers marks continued progress in its expansion to a three-region sales structure, aimed at winning more business in the retirement markets. 

Executives say the new sales structure, initiated last June, improves geographic proximity for clients, creates efficiencies and increases productivity. Bill Yoerger, president of retirement services for the companies of OneAmerica, says the changes have made the company more flexible in the delivery of our products and services, and more nimble in response to changes in the marketplace.

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The new hires include Tammy Ouverson, vice president of national accounts, who will lead the national accounts team and set distribution strategy. Previously, Ouverson was vice president, head of business development, for Voya Retirement Solutions, concentrating on the small- and mid-corporate markets.

Reporting to Ouverson will be Brandon Kaboski, vice president of national accounts for the eastern region, as well as Matt Asher, national account specialist for the central region. A similar western region position will be filled in the future, OneAmerica says.

Denise Preece, assistant vice president of field services, will lead the field services team under the new structure. Supporting field services will be Ben Winecki, field vice president for the west region; Brian Giles, field vice president for the central region; and Cathy Josenhans, field vice president for the east region.

More info on OneAmerica is available at https://www.oneamerica.com/. 

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