Appearing on Bloomberg Markets: The Close, Matt Toms of Voya Investment Management said, “We see risk premium on. You’ve seen a rally in corporate bonds and high-yield bonds, and EM debt of all flavors...where you’re not seeing the really big unhinging as in the yield curve, where you’re going to struggle to get above 1% in the near term.” On Brexit, Toms said Voya has long believed that a no-deal Brexit would be “mutually-assured destruction,” that it was always “going to get done,” and that it looks like “we are finally there.” On bonds and the dollar drop, Toms said there is more spread compression to come, and spreads likely will be “uncomfortably low” over the next 18 months. Toms said emerging markets have high potential for growth, and “EM’s growth rate will attract capital” as a “softer U.S. dollar will push capital.”
Pensions & Investments recently released its ranking of the Best Places to Work 2020. Voya Investment Management was ranked #3 and continues a five-year run in the ranking. The company offers “a 401(k) match of up to 6% and a 4% defined benefit plan,” while employees “are encouraged to volunteer and are paid up to 40 hours a year for volunteer time away. The company’s foundation matches donations to non-profits up to $5,000 annually.” When asked about the environment, Voya Investment Management employees said, “Leadership has been amazing during the COVID-19 pandemic, from making sure people can work remotely and being supportive of flexible schedules to encouraging healthy activities.” Another employee said, “The culture is great and the people are collegial. The organization’s values were on display during the Black Lives Matter protests and it created a sense of community.”
Under the headline, “Biden victory points to new securitization backdrop,” GlobalCapital reported that the U.S. “mortgage market is anticipating big changes” under President-elect Joe Biden, with Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Mark Calabria “at risk of dismissal.” The U.S. Supreme Court is currently reviewing a case about the FHFA’s leadership and some “sources predict that Calabria’s dismissal would come sometime in the first term of Biden’s presidency, and as soon as the first half of 2021.” Voya Investment Management Head of Securitized Dave Goodson said, “We will probably feel the impact most poignantly and more immediately on the residential mortgage side of the securitized universe.” Goodson added, “We’ve already seen some forces put into motion.”
During a Bloomberg TV appearance, Voya Financial Senior Portfolio Manager and Asset Allocation Head Barbara Reinhard discussed the market news of the day, including the Russell 2000 closing at a record high. On that news, Reinhard commented that “small caps have been beating value” in “the past one- and three-month period which does tell us small caps have leveraged the cyclical upswing. ... It is not surprising to see them do so well and we are very happy with that development in the market.” Reinhard also commented on President-elect Biden’s expected nomination of former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen as U.S. Treasury Secretary, saying, “I think Janet Yellen being appointed to the U.S. Treasury is a very powerful move on behalf of the incoming Biden Administration. ... I think she is well-versed on some of the difficulties that we’re seeing at the Fed in so many instances during her tenure. I think she also is well grounded in what she knows and doesn’t know. I think that she will certainly rely on some of the people at the Treasury and professionals at the Treasury.” Later during the interview, when asked about the high-yield bond market, Reinhard said, “There is still a very big reach for yield going on. You cannot find much yield in the Treasury market.” She added, “The corporate market certainly looks like it has given a lot of value at this point. So, I think it’s natural for pieces of high yield to start really participating that haven’t been able to participate previously. Don’t forget: the supports that the Fed had put in place to the high yield market were really significant.”
Bloomberg TV interviewed Voya Investment Management CEO Christine Hurtsellers. During the interview, Hurtsellers said that “we are worried” about the Washington’s inability to pass a fiscal stimulus package. According to Hurtsellers, “Our core view is we need $1.5 trillion ... to get things underway.” She added that further delay will fuel the need for a larger package in the future, which may need to total $2.5 trillion to properly shore up the economy. In particular, Hurtsellers said that “the lower income bracket, the people getting affected by COVID, they need the help to continue to boost consumer confidence.” As for potential investment opportunities, Hurtsellers said that “for our sophisticated client, we think commercial real estate” presents a compelling choice, especially for investors “a little more on the risk spectrum.”
In continuing coverage, PlanAdviser reported, “Voya Investment Management announced that it has acquired the technology and hired the founding team of G Squared Capital LLP (G2), a London-based investment manager that serves institutions and other sophisticated investors.” According to PlanAdviser, “G2’s technology applies machine intelligence to fundamental investing. The company’s proprietary technology is built to identify persistent patterns in company data.” Under the deal, “G2 Principals Gareth Shepherd, Gabriel Andraos and Yana Kramer will form the new Equity Machine Intelligence (EMI) group within Voya Investment Management’s quantitative equities business.” PlanAdviser added, “Based in London, they will report to Vincent Costa, head of quantitative equity for Voya Investment Management.” Voya IM Head of Equities Michael Pytosh said, “This transaction supports our focus on building best-in-class equity portfolios that meet our clients’ long-term investment needs. Further, our new EMI team has the knowledge base and tools to accelerate Voya’s efforts to incorporate environmental, social and governance [ESG] factors in our investment selection process.”
Private Banker International, “Voya Investment Management (IM) has acquired the technology of G Squared Capital (G2) to boost its equity investment business.” Neither party disclosed the financial details of the transaction. “Founded in 2011, G2 is based in London and focuses on delivering customised investment solutions.” G2 “uses artificial intelligence to find persistent patterns in company and ESG data.” According to Voya IM Equities Head Michael Pytosh, “This transaction supports our focus on building best-in-class equity portfolios that meet our clients’ long-term investment needs.” He added, “Further, our new EMI team has the knowledge base and tools to accelerate Voya’s efforts to incorporate environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors in our investment selection process.”
In an interview with CNBC’s Squawk Box, Voya Investment Management Head of Asset Allocation Barbara Reinhard said that the election’s outcome, so far, means “that fiscal policy and trade wars are going to get a lot of relief.” According to Reinhard, with Biden now in a position to take the White House, “The trade war relief has huge implications for the rest of the world and so many small countries in the Asian emerging markets had really been threatened.” She added that the U.S. economy “is slowing and the rest of the world is slowing right now under the heavy weight of rising COVID infections, so I think the big story is fiscal policy.” Furthermore, Reinhard said that “the growth of the world depends on a strong U.S., so it really is going to depend on the U.S. delivering yet again another fiscal package, as well as having a much friendlier environment.”
The Atlanta Business Chronicle features an interview with one of the executives it named to the Atlanta Most Admired CEOs of 2020 list, Voya Investment Management CEO Christine Hurtsellers. When asked what “other CEOs do to win such great admiration from their stakeholders,” Hurtsellers responded that they should “set a course and communicate, communicate, communicate.” According to Hurtsellers, “This is especially true in difficult situations. People deal better with change and bad news when they understand the ‘why’ and the results. Remind them again and again. Go out of your way to cascade news in your words throughout the organization. Be honest and authentic, especially during the bad times.” According to Hurtsellers, leaders should “never forget that tough decisions often impact your employees and that’s where being candid comes in. Face to face, live communication through town halls is always better than a memo.” In addition, Hurstellers said that leaders “should make themselves ‘answer questions and realize that while not everyone will be happy or agree with the choices, if you are open and honest, they will at least respect the decisions that were made.’”
The Atlanta Business Chronicle reports that Voya Investment Management CEO Christine Hurtsellers is among the honorees included in the publication’s list of the “Most Admired CEOs” for 2020. Honorees included in the year’s list “faced a year of change like no other. Amid a pandemic, accompanying economic shutdown and social upheaval, they were able to effectively transmit vision, encouragement and hope to their teams across virtual streams of communication, keeping their companies moving forward.” A virtual event planned for December 10 will honor Hurtsellers and the other honorees.
