Products December 26, 2013

Henderson Issues Unconstrained Bond Fund

Henderson Global Investors launched the Henderson Unconstrained Bond Fund, a mutual fund that provides investors with a dynamic approach to fixed-income investing.
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The fund’s active management strategy uses a benchmark-agnostic, unconstrained approach to provide flexibility and access to investments across global fixed-income sectors. Managers also favor a wide portfolio duration range to allow the fund to respond effectively during various interest rate environments, according to a statement from Henderson. 

The firm has managed similar products in the UK and Europe since 2006.

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The fund follows a portfolio-building process that includes top-down asset allocation supported by the Investment Strategy Group—a team of nine senior fixed-income specialists. The team also leverages fixed-income experts in a bottom-up, “best ideas” approach to security selection.

“Ever-changing market conditions require a more active approach to bond investing and a strong commitment to mitigating risk,” says Chuck Thompson, director of U.S. retail for Henderson. “The Unconstrained Bond Fund will navigate across fixed income markets with the ability to take views on interest rates, credit and loans while seeking to protect client capital.

More information on the fund and Henderson Global Investors is available here.  

Products December 26, 2013

Prudential Adds DST Clearing Service

Financial services and asset management firm DST reached an agreement to bring its retirement income clearing calculator (RICC) services to Prudential Retirement clients.
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DST’s retirement income clearing calculator tools are designed to enable easier distribution of retirement income across traditional recordkeeping platforms. The goal is to connect product providers with recordkeepers to better facilitate the delivery and portability of retirement income products, according to a statement from DST.

Prudential Retirement, a business unit of Prudential Financial, plans to use the income clearing calculator to distribute retirement income products—such as its Prudential IncomeFlex Target—across multiple recordkeeping platforms.

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According to Jude Metcalfe, president of DST Retirement Solutions, the tool will provide Prudential the opportunity to make its guaranteed retirement income products available to more distributors and large plan sponsors.

"RICC breaks through the technology barriers to enable providers like Prudential Retirement to reach the marketplace without the immense and costly effort of continuously updating systems," says Metcalfe. "With RICC, building one platform allows you to reach many guaranteed income products."

Specifically designed to effectively work with a broad array of income solutions, RICC enables providers to incorporate various functionalities to deliver income solutions to the market. The platform incorporates all of the calculations, and product and business rules around a guaranteed income product.

DST Retirement Solutions provides a broad array of front- and back-office technology and servicing solutions to financial service organizations offering retirement plan recordkeeping. 

More information is available at www.dstsystems.com.

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