PIMCO announced May 7 it has named Rene Martel, a Managing Director at the Newport Beach, Calif.-based firm, as its Head of Retirement. He will report to Emmanuel Roman, PIMCO’s Chief Executive Officer.
In this new role, Martel will expand his current role as Head of Pension Solutions to oversee the development and implementation of solutions across the broad retirement market. He will collaborate closely with PIMCO teams which play a key role in retirement strategies and services, including Client Solutions and Analytics, Defined Contribution, Product Strategy Group and Global Wealth Management.
PIMCO, which is owned by Allianz SE, has $1.76 trillion in assets under management as of March 2019 and is an industry leader in a number of retirement market segments including income strategies, liability-driven investing and a wide range of investment solutions used in defined contribution plans.
For example, more than 100,000 retirement plans across the U.S. have a PIMCO strategy as a bond option according to Brightscope (as of March 31, 2019), including PIMCO’s Total Return, Income and Real Return strategies, among others.
“Our ambition is to be a premier retirement provider helping clients strategically navigate existing challenges and prepare for emerging ones,” Roman said. “Millions of Americans will need access to both low risk and income-oriented solutions in their retirement while younger investors need access to solutions focused on steady and sustainable growth—all of which we believe an active bond investor like PIMCO is well-positioned to provide.”
“PIMCO has deep expertise in the retirement market, from LDI and defined contribution to wealth management and provides strategies which seek to deliver consistent income to retirees and manage their assets through retirement,” said Martel. “In addition, PIMCO has a track record of helping investors navigate changing market cycles, including periods of great market stress where it is most important to provide clients with sound insights, guidance and investment strategy.”
Rene Martel joined PIMCO in 2006 and in his most recent role as Head of Pension Solutions focused on liability-driven investments, asset allocation and asset-liability management strategies for pension funds and insurance companies. Prior to joining PIMCO, he was responsible for conducting asset-liability modeling and recommending risk management strategies for pension plan sponsors at Mercer Investment Consulting.
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