529 Plans – Ready Market for Stable Value
By Randy Myers NOTE: Correction at end of article They have different funding goals, of course, but in many other respects 529 college savings plans are a lot like 401(k) retirement savings plans—with at least one notable difference. While stable value funds can be found in a high percentage of 401(k) plans, they are only […]
Stable Times Volume 17 Issue 1
Download PDF The biannual publication of the Stable Value Investment Association that covers both industry concerns and association activities. Table of contents: Stable Value Assets Continue to Grow in 2012 [PDF] Fiscal Concerns: Goldman Sachs Asset Management Offers an Update [PDF] US Interest Rates: What We Should Expect [PDF] 529 Plans: Ready Market for Stable Value [PDF] […]
US Interest Rates – What We Should Expect
By Randy Myers The financial markets appear to be getting it right. As the Federal Reserve continues to pursue an extraordinarily expansive monetary policy, it is hard to know where interest rates are, where they should be, or how quickly and dramatically they might change once the Fed finally begins to shift to a […]
Understanding the Insurance Side of Stable Value
By Randy Myers Insurance companies may have years of experience with stable value, but an ever-changing regulatory environment means the business itself has never become routine. Unlike many other industries subject to government oversight, the insurance industry is regulated primarily at the state level rather than the federal level. Each state insurance department brings […]
The Evolving Definition of Competing Funds
By Randy Myers There was a time in the stable value industry when the term “competing fund” almost always referred to one thing: a money market fund. No longer. Over the past decade or so, the financial services industry has rolled out a slew of new investment products for defined contribution plans, from inflation-protected […]
SVIA Finishes Annual Survey Covering 2012
By Gina Mitchell SVIA’s Annual Stable Value Investment and Policy Survey, its most comprehensive survey, confirmed the positive trends found in most defined contribution plan asset allocation and stable value investments surveys. The annual survey, which covers 38 stable value managers, reported that assets under management in 2012 had risen to $701 billion, which […]
Stable Value Assets Continue to Grow in 2012
By Randy Myers The stable value market continued to grow again last year as retirement plan participants continued to show enthusiasm for the steady returns and principal guarantees offered by the asset class. Assets in stable value funds grew 8.5 percent to $701 billion in 2012 , giving stable value about a 14 percent […]
Regulators Continue to Study Dodd-Frank
By Randy Myers When Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, it tasked the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) with conducting a study of stable value contracts. The goal was to determine whether stable value contracts should be treated as over-the-counter […]
NAIC Separate Account Risk Working Group Listens to Commenters
By Helen Napoli On June 5th, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ (NAIC) Separate Account Risk (E) Working Group heard from four out of the nine commenters who submitted written comments on the NAIC’s evaluation criteria, assessments and proposed recommendations regarding the insulation of separate accounts. The NAIC asked interested parties to comment on […]
