Products March 21, 2025

Product and Service Launches – 3/21/25

PensionBee adds Roth, traditional contribution capabilities; SMArtX Advisory Solutions adds 5 strategies; October Three expands retirement plan; and more.

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PensionBee Adds Roth and Contribution Capabilities To Mobile App

Online retirement provider PensionBee Inc. added Roth and traditional individual retirement account contribution capabilities to its mobile app.

PensionBee’s U.S. app provides a streamlined solution for combining old workplace 401(k)s and IRAs into a modern retirement account, according to the company. This update means all users are now eligible to make tax-advantaged contributions directly through the platform, providing greater flexibility and control over their retirement planning.

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“We launched in the U.S. intent on placing retirement control back into consumers’ hands,” said Romi Savova, PensionBee’s CEO, in a statement. “Enabling Roth and traditional IRA contributions is the next step toward that goal, and a timely one, as U.S. consumers struggle against a backdrop of confusing retirement solutions.”

SMArtX Advisory Solutions Adds 5 Strategies to Manager Marketplace

SMArtX Advisory Solutions, a provider of unified managed accounts technology, added five strategies from leading asset management firms to its Manager Marketplace, now offering 1,547 strategies from 323 distinguished asset management firms.

Vulcan Value Partners, new to the platform, added a focus strategy, while Argent Capital Management, Main Management, NorthCoast Asset Management and Weatherstone Capital Management expanded their current offerings to respectively include focused small cap, hedged equity, equity income and tactical short-term bond strategies.

“We are thrilled to welcome these new strategies from respected asset managers to the SMArtX platform,” Brad Haag, SMArtX’s executive vice president of asset manager solutions, said in a statement. “As the second quarter approaches, we look forward to working with asset managers to further enhance the advisor experience with SMArtX.”

October Three Expands O3 PRIME Retirement Plan

October Three, a retirement strategy, actuarial and administration consulting firm, has expanded its O3 PRIME—Personalized Retirement Income for My Employees—lifetime retirement income plan.

The plan is a market-based cash balance plan integrated with a 401(k) plan that reduces risk and complexity for businesses while producing up to 30% more lifetime income for employees compared to what a defined contribution plan can provide, according to October Three. In 2023, October Three constructed the PRIME design and began implementing it for several clients. October Three rolled out a PRIME plan for its own staff in January.

“O3 PRIME goes beyond traditional retirement savings methods to create a plan that effectively balances the needs of employers and employees, to help employees secure their retirement without exposing their employer to excessive risk,” said Jeff Stevenson, October Three’s president and CEO, in a statement.

ARS Selects SS&C to Support Suite of Guaranteed Income Products

ARS, a guaranteed lifetime income solutions and technology provider for the defined contribution market, has partnered with SS&C Retirement Solutions to distribute and service its suite of Lifetime Income Builder retirement products.

ARS’ Lifetime Income Builder products, group fixed-indexed annuities with a guaranteed lifetime withdrawal benefit, will be available to recordkeepers on SS&C’s Retirement Income Clearing & Calculation platform. ARS will gain access to distribution opportunities across recordkeeping platforms for its suite of target-date funds integrated with Lifetime Income Builder, according to the companies. Recordkeepers can add Lifetime Income Builder funds to their offerings through their CUSIPs.

“To change the way Americans retire, we have to make it easier for recordkeepers to offer innovative solutions like Lifetime Income Builder,” said ARS Chief Operating Officer Abby Canfield in a statement. “The integration of the Lifetime Income Builder-based solutions and ecosystem with the SS&C RICC platform enables this by creating seamless fund administration capabilities.”

SEI Introduces SEI Strategies With Capital Group

SEI announced SEI Strategies with Capital Group, a lineup of all-exchange-traded-funds model portfolios offered in a unified managed account framework.

The portfolios provide flexibility to combine strategies and manage both geographic exposures and tax sensitivity, according to the company, which include:

  • Six SEI strategies with Capital Group;
  • Six SEI U.S.-focused strategies with Capital Group;
  • Six SEI tax-managed strategies with Capital Group; and
  • Six SEI U.S.-focused tax-managed strategies with Capital Group.

Among other features, the 12 new tax-managed models are designed to feature ETFs’ tax efficiency benefits; exposure to municipal bond ETFs for generation of tax-free income, systematic and opportunistic tax-loss harvesting; and an accompanying “Estimated Taxes Saved” report.

JPMorgan U.S. Research Enhanced Large-Cap ETF Launches on NYSE

J.P. Morgan Asset Management launched the JPMorgan U.S. Research Enhanced Large Cap ETF on the New York Stock Exchange.

JUSA is designed with a slightly lower active risk budget and a greater number of holdings, providing broader diversification, than other funds. This makes it an attractive option for investors looking for consistent returns in their U.S. equity exposure, according to the company. This ETF, managed by Ralph Zingone and Tim Snyder, expands J.P. Morgan’s Research Enhanced range, providing investors with a suite of investment strategies for long-term capital appreciation.

“JUSA exemplifies the core principles of J.P. Morgan Asset Management’s leadership in active ETFs,” said John Harrington, J.P. Morgan Asset Management’s global head of ETF product, in a statement. “By combining decades of experience in managing our time-tested Research Enhanced strategies with the innovative structure of the active ETF vehicle, we are delivering a solution that aligns with our tradition of excellence and commitment to innovation. JUSA demonstrates our ability to adapt proven strategies to meet the evolving needs of investors in today’s dynamic market and is an exciting addition to our active U.S. ETF offerings.”

BlackRock Offers Access to Liquid Alternatives with Managed Futures ETF

BlackRock Inc. introduced the iShares Managed Futures Active ETF, a liquid alternative strategy managed by Jeffrey Rosenberg, Richard Mathieson and Stephanie Lee.

ISMF employs a disciplined long/short approach to seek differentiated sources of return across market cycles, according to the announcement. The strategy is a potential portfolio hedge against market weakness and can be used as a diversifier by investing in non-traditional asset classes, including futures and derivatives, which have a tendency of low long-term correlation to traditional stocks and bonds across market cycles. It provides investors access to BlackRock’s $306 billion Systematic investment platform within an ETF wrapper.

“Managed Futures strategies have proven effective in delivering differentiated, counter-cyclical returns for investors over decades,” said Raffaele Savi, global head of BlackRock’s Systematic, in a statement. “ISMF can help more investors hedge and diversify their portfolios, regardless of market conditions.”

The Markets March 21, 2025

PGIM Talks Deglobalization’s Portfolio Implications In New Report

Research from the asset manager shows the world is in an era of two tracks—the 25% now deglobalizing and the 75% still integrating into the world economy.

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Geopolitical risk is top of mind for investors. According to a new PGIM report, “A New Era of Globalization: Shifting Opportunities in a Dual-Track World,” released this week, the world has entered a new “dual track” era of globalization, in which strategically important sectors are deglobalizing, but a majority of sectors and trade patterns continue to globalize as they have for decades. 

Approximately 25% of global GDP, including a significant number of strategic and high-tech sectors, is deglobalizing, according to the report. While representing only one-quarter of global GDP, these industries feed into many other industries.

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“Our list includes AI, high-end semiconductors, 5G telecom networks, critical minerals, oil and natural gas, EVs and batteries, the military sector, and certain parts of the biotech sector,” says Taimur Hyat, PGIM’s COO and one of the report’s authors.

“This 25% of the global economy really punches above its weight,” says Shehriyar Antia, PGIM’s head of thematic research and another of the report’s authors. “Chips, critical metals [and] energy, for example, are all inputs into a wider range of industries and goods.”

Portfolio Considerations 

The report noted multiple portfolio-wide implications of the dual-track era. Among those will be national winners and losers from industries like manufacturing and mining, resulting from larger powers seeking to reshore and near-shore critical industries. Countries set to benefit are those with existing industrial capacity that can be more attractive for reshoring and near-shoring activities.

“As more sophisticated manufacturing leaves China, it has to go somewhere and one of the most natural places to go are places where there’s already some simple manufacturing,” Antia says.

For example, India is a producer of basic electronics and pharmaceuticals but could become a winner in more advanced electronics and biologicals. Costa Rica, which has some basic semiconductor supply chains and manufacturing infrastructure in place, is in a good place to leverage its existing infrastructure for expanded investment.

“Even a few contracts from multinational companies can have an outsized impact on their economy, fiscal balances and credit ratings,” the report stated.

According to PGIM, investors should focus on countries with access to free-trade zones. Poland, with its access to the EU, and Mexico are two examples. Countries that offer comparative advantages in their business environments and labor costs like India and Vietnam are also set to gain.

For manufacturing, PGIM listed India, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Czechia, Hungary, Morocco, Poland, Colombia, Costa Rica and Mexico as such winning countries. Meanwhile. Australia, Indonesia, Morocco, South Africa, Zambia, Brazil, Chile and Peru are set to be winners in minerals and metals.

In the report, PGIM emphasized the need for investors to stress-test portfolios for various geopolitical scenarios, such as a 50% tariff on all goods from a specific country or the shock of an invasion. According to PGIM, stress tests are important to understand portfolio exposure to at-risk sectors and countries, as well as to assess whether firms are adequately prepared for risks.

Strategy Considerations

The report also stated that investors should consider option-based portfolio strategies to address idiosyncratic risks of a fragmenting global economy, rather than only leaning on portfolio diversification as a hedge against volatility. Two such examples are asymmetric convexity strategies—using long-dated options in a multi-asset portfolio as part of a long-term strategy—and “defined outcome” strategies—cap-buffer structures as downside protection. 

The report noted that volatility driven by economic policy uncertainty could drive asset correlations higher, derailing portfolio diversification assumptions.

“Though it remains uncertain how the global economy evolves from here, one thing is clear: the Dual-Track Era of globalization is altering the macro and investment landscape,” the report stated. “It is up to investors and their asset managers to have the short-term flexibility and long-term vision to capture the emerging new opportunities while also navigating the dynamic risks and vulnerabilities.”

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