Products January 13, 2014

ING U.S. Will Become Voya Financial

ING U.S. Inc. will continue its rebranding process during 2014.
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Stakeholders of ING U.S. will begin to see the new Voya Financial name in use during the second quarter, according to an announcement from the company. The various ING U.S. businesses and legal entities plan to complete their transition to Voya throughout the year as per the following schedule:

  • April 7: ING U.S., Inc., ING U.S.’s publicly listed holding company, will change its name to Voya Financial, Inc.;
  • May 1: ING U.S. Investment Management will rebrand to Voya Investment Management and the employee benefits business will begin using the Voya Financial brand; and
  • September 1: All other ING U.S. businesses will begin using the Voya Financial brand and all remaining ING U.S. legal entities that currently have names incorporating the ING brand will change their names to reflect the Voya brand.

Until rebranding begins in April, ING U.S. will operate using its current name and logo. As the rebranding process advances between April and September, both the ING U.S. and Voya Financial names will be in use.

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“The 7,000 ING U.S. employees who live and breathe our values each day will soon embrace their new roles as ambassadors of Voya,” says Rodney O. Martin Jr., the New York-based chairman and CEO of ING U.S. “Even though our name and logo will be different, our commitment to helping customers advance their retirement readiness remains the same.”

‘Voya’ is an abstract name coined from the word ‘voyage,’ according to Ann Glover, chief marketing officer of ING U.S. “The name also reminds us that a secure financial future is more than simply reaching a destination. It’s about a journey to financial empowerment and taking control along the way in order to create positive experiences,” she says.

ING’s transition to Voya Financial has been an ongoing process (see “INGUS Plans to Rebrand”).

More information, including the new Voya logo, can be found here.

Compliance January 13, 2014

Regions Financial to Settle Stock Drop Suit

Regions Financial Corporation has agreed to settle a lawsuit relating to its offering of company stock and certain Morgan Keegan funds in its retirement plan.
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A motion for preliminary approval was issued in December 2013 by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee, for the settlement of In re Regions Morgan Keegan Securities, Derivative and ERISA Litigation. The defendants will pay a total settlement amount of $22.5 million, which will divided among four different settlement subclass groups, according to the court document. The document also mentions the scope of release, detailing in what circumstances that the defendants are released from all ERISA-based claims.

The court document mentions that “the complexity of this case sets it apart from many ERISA breach of fiduciary duty class actions because the plaintiffs assert three distinct categories of claims arising from Regions’ own 401(k) plans for its employees and also assert one of those categories of claims on behalf of other ERISA-covered employee benefit plans that contracted with Regions for trustee, custodial, investment management and investment adviser services.” Thus, the four settlement subclass groups.

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The original lawsuit, filed in 2008 against Regions and its subsidiaries, alleges the defendants violated their fiduciary duties under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) by continuing to keep retirement plan assets invested in company stock after it was no longer prudent to do so (see “Law Firm Probing Memphis Investment Bank 401(k) over Stock Drop”). It also questions whether plan fiduciaries knew or should have known that Regions and/or its subsidiary Morgan Keegan were not properly disclosing their large exposure to Collateralized Debt Obligations and subprime mortgages, which caused losses to Regions’ common stock and Morgan Keegan’s mutual funds.

The full text of the motion for settlement can be found here.

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