This week, we see new and expanded offerings from Mylo, Prudential Advisors, and John Hancock, UBS announces the addition of The BG Group to its New York City office, and Mercer brings in a new strategic investor.
Mylo offers 401(k) solutions through Ubiquity partnership
Insurtech leader Mylo has selected small business retirement planning platform Ubiquity Retirement + Savings to provide a suite of group and individual 401(k) products.
The tools are set to enhance Mylo’s wide offering of small business insurance and benefits. Business owners will be able to consult a 401(k) expert at Ubiquity, review retirement savings options and find a 401(k)-plan personalized to their savings needs through this new partnership. Ubiquity will be the exclusive retirement plan provider offering these services to Mylo’s customers.
“About half of all private sector workers do not have access to an employer-sponsored retirement savings plan,” said Chad Parks, founder and CEO of Ubiquity. “With this partnership, we are furthering our mission to empower all individuals to save for a secure financial future by making it easier for small businesses to access affordable plan options.”
Ubiquity’s Single(k) Plus, Saver(k), Custom(k) and Reserve(k) plans will now be available to Mylo’s customers.
“We’re excited to partner with industry leader Ubiquity to offer retirement benefits solutions and expertise,” said David Embry, Mylo CEO. “Our insurance intelligence platform will easily integrate with Ubiquity’s cloud-based technology to bring these innovative offerings to our customers.”
Prudential Advisors incorporates annuities into advisory platform
Prudential Advisors, the closely aligned distribution arm of Prudential Financial’s U.S. Businesses, has introduced fee-based annuities to its expanding advisory platform.
The new offering provides clients with investment advice for an asset-based fee when purchasing an annuity, and it can provide an integrated view of clients’ investments, including their annuity assets, in a single report. The first annuity available will be the Prudential MyRock Advisor variable annuity.The product is issued by Pruco Life Insurance Company.
“The addition of fee-based annuities was natural given the growth of our investments business,” said Pat Hynes, vice president and head of Field Sales at Prudential Advisors. “At the same time, it was important that we took the time to get the client and advisor experience right, providing a product offering that many clients prefer along with an experience that is integrated into their overall investment reporting.”
Prudential Advisors used the firm’s managed money platform provider, Envestnet, and its affiliated company FIDx, the team behind the Insurance Exchange, to help create the integrated client and advisor experience. According to Prudential, the offering:
- Fully integrates into the Prudential Financial ecosystem, enabling the potential for a 100% paperless experience, including e-signature
- Gives advisors the ability to research annuity products and subaccounts within their dashboard
- Solves most errors that lead to applications being not in good order (NIGOs)
- Imports client data to prefill an annuity proposal
- Checks the licensing requirements of the advisor
- Confirms state availability of products
Managed Income Solutions will initially feature the Prudential MyRockAdvisor variable annuity, which offers the potential for tax-deferred growth and two optional protection features that can help clients meet their long-term investment goals.
BG Groups joins UBS
UBS has added financial advisors Michael Bromberg, Daniel A. Gerschel, Joshua Ellner, Rob Mancino and Craig Weinstein, to its New York City office. Together with their team, The BG Group, the five manage more than $2.5 billion in client assets for high-net-worth individuals and families. They join the UBS Manhattan Wealth Management Market and will be based in the firm’s 1285 Avenue of the Americas office, managed by Market Director Kellie Brady.
“We’re proud to welcome Michael, Daniel, Joshua, Rob and Craig to UBS,” said Kellie. “We believe we have the strongest platform for financial advisors in the Americas, and with our suite of high-net-worth capabilities and truly global offering, advisors like The BG Group will be able to deliver the full power of UBS to their clients.”
Mercer announces addition to suite of strategic investors
Mercer Advisors, a national registered investment advisor (RIA) with assets under management (AUM) of approximately $48 billion, announced today that it is expanding its set of strategic investors by adding a new investor, Altas Partners.
Altas joins Mercer Advisors’ current strategic investors, Genstar Capital and Oak Hill Capital, and over 300 Mercer Advisors employees who own equity in the company. The transaction is expected to be completed by the third quarter of 2023.
Mercer Advisors is a leading national fiduciary wealth-management firm that provides a family office for families ranging from mass affluent to ultra-high-net-worth, and serves a spectrum of institutional clients, including companies, endowments, and foundations. Based in Denver, Mercer Advisors has a U.S. footprint of over 80 locations and almost 900 employees.
“We are excited to welcome Altas Partners as a strategic investor,” said Dave Welling, chief executive officer of Mercer Advisors. “We have had an outstanding partnership with Genstar and Oak Hill for many years and chose Altas as our newest strategic investor because they believe in our mission, purpose, and strategy and are committed to support continued investment in capabilities that will allow us to enhance the way we serve our clients.”
“Mercer Advisors is an exceptional company serving a large and loyal clientele,” said Paul Emery, Partner at Altas. “Through its leadership, operational excellence and strategic acquisitions, Mercer Advisors has rapidly scaled and established a leading position in a fragmented industry, all while staying true to its client-centric culture. This investment aligns extremely well with our distinctive strategy of identifying one or two high quality businesses each year that we believe are positioned to grow meaningfully and deliver lasting value to our partners. We are thrilled to help fuel Mercer Advisors’ continued growth alongside the Company’s existing strategic investors, Genstar and Oak Hill, and in close partnership with Dave Welling and team.”
Raymond James served as a lead financial advisor, and Paul, Weiss served as legal counsel to Mercer Advisors on the transaction.
John Hancock expands alternatives accessibility
John Hancock Investment Management, a company of Manulife Investment Management has expanded its availability for its alternative investment product offering. Having launched its first alternative allocation fund in 2009, the firm has seen increased interest in its alternative and private markets solutions and has implemented additional solutions to meet the demand of advisors, their clients, and qualified investors through multiple distribution platforms.
Nathan W. Thooft, CIO, Multi-Asset Solutions, Manulife Investment Management, said, “We are currently experiencing an economic and market environment with high uncertainties, notable volatility, and the prospect for weaker growth. With this in mind, our goal is to provide investors the opportunity to consider an increased allocation to alternatives, adding differentiated exposures to their portfolios.”
John Hancock Investment Management expanded its registered alternative offerings to include semi-liquid tender offer funds that provide mass affluent eligible investors access to private securities with the launch of the John Hancock Asset-Based Lending Fund in July 2022. The fund, which seeks to provide investors high current income and to a lesser extent, capital appreciation in various private asset-based lending investments ranging from transportation finance to healthcare royalties, is managed by New York-based public and private credit specialist Marathon Asset Management. The fund is now available on all three RIA custody platforms – Fidelity, Pershing and Schwab and is available for electronic transactions on the +SUBSCRIBE platform and the iCapital Marketplace.
“John Hancock Investment Management has seen growing interest in the Asset-Based Lending Fund as investors look for differentiated investments that bring diversification to traditional assets in their portfolios,” said York Lo, head of alternative product, John Hancock Investment Management. “For investors who believe we are in a recession or pre-recessionary climate, the opportunity to increase diversification through alternative asset classes could add ballast to a portfolio into the next cycle, and we look forward to providing investors with expanded offerings to make the appropriate allocations.”
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