Voya Financial Launches Wealth Portfolios Product, Expanding Advisory Program

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May 19, 2016, 09:30 ET

WINDSOR, Conn., May 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE: VOYA), announced today that its retail broker-dealer and registered investment advisor Voya Financial Advisors, Inc., has launched the Voya Wealth Portfolios product, the latest addition to its suite of turnkey offerings available on the firm's WealthSolutions wealth management platform. As a result of this new advisory-focused solution, financial advisors affiliated with Voya Financial Advisors now have access to leading fund families and the ability to provide a best-in-class team approach to constructing investment portfolios. This strategy is focused on finding the right asset allocation mix to match a client's individual financial needs and risk tolerance.

The Voya Wealth Portfolios product supports the firm's ongoing commitment to strengthen its advisory business, which grew by 30 percent during 2015. The new offering also provides an opportunity for advisors to deliver holistic support that can help clients get ready to retire better by planning, investing and protecting their savings. This reinforces Voya's efforts to further expand its advisory business.

"The introduction of Voya Wealth Portfolios provides an added opportunity for our advisors to focus on what matters most — deepening client relationships, building holistic financial plans and running their businesses," said Tom Halloran, president of Voya Financial Advisors. "As a leading broker-dealer and investment advisor in the industry, it's important that we arm our advisors with the right solutions to help their clients plan and feel confident about their future. In doing this, we are also positioning ourselves to be successful in the new regulatory environment while supporting our vision to be America's Retirement Company™."

Voya Wealth Portfolios is a turnkey solution that includes four different series of portfolios that are fully invested in a specific mutual fund company. These fund partners represent four leading brands in the industry with successful track records. Within each of the Voya Wealth Portfolios are five model options that advisors can work with to give them broad flexibility when building an investment portfolio for their clients.

Advisors who operate with Voya Wealth Portfolios have access to an institutionally recognized sub-advisor known for robust research and investment consulting services. Working together with Voya Financial Advisors, the firm FDx Advisors provides investment and research support to help manage the asset allocation as well as the fiduciary risk in the fund selection for Voya Wealth Portfolios. With an objective of growth by generating interest, capital gains and dividends for individual accounts, each model maintains an appropriate risk level and is adjusted annually in response to changes in the market.

Since its launch, the Voya Wealth Portfolios offering is proving to be popular with advisors — even drawing new advisors to the advisory platform. "We've seen great interest among advisors," commented Andre Robinson, head of advisory services at Voya Financial Advisors. "Working together with FDx and the fund companies, we designed a solution that allows us to move commission-based accounts into advisory accounts with comparable funds. With this approach, portfolios are reviewed by fund managers that our advisors and clients have come to know and trust."

Voya Wealth Portfolios also allows advisors to better integrate advisory solutions for clients with smaller accounts. Steve Dunlap, president and COO of FolioDynamix, noted, "Our team of research professionals worked closely with hand-picked investment managers to put the most optimal, innovative solution in place for Voya Financial Advisors. The Voya models are constructed and monitored based on risk-tolerance assessments to determine proper asset allocation, enabling advisors to offer a professionally managed advisory account option to investors of any size."

With the broad range of available models, advisors are able to align their clients with the investment portfolio that best suits their needs. "The decisions made with my clients on how to invest their funds may impact nearly every aspect of their lives down the road," noted Joe O'Boyle, a California-based advisor with Voya Financial Advisors. "With so much at stake, it's great to have a solution that can support their personalized goals while offering access to professionals with the extensive experience, tools and resources."

In support of its expanding advisory business, Voya Financial Advisors also provides a "white glove" services team and suite of resources to assist advisors with all aspects of growing their advisory business, including support with best practices, case consultation, product and technology training, and conversion assistance.

Voya Financial Advisors is an independent broker-dealer and registered investment advisor focused on helping advance the retirement readiness and financial security needs of Americans. For more information, visit www.voyafa.com.

As an industry leader and advocate for greater retirement readiness, Voya Financial is committed to delivering on its vision to be America's Retirement Company™ and its mission to make a secure financial future possible — one person, one family, one institution at a time.

Media Contact:
Laura Maulucci
Voya Financial
Office: (860) 580-1278
Cell: (508) 353-6913
[email protected]

Investor Contact:
Darin Arita
212-309-8999
[email protected]

About Voya Financial^®Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE: VOYA), helps Americans plan, invest and protect their savings — to get ready to retire better. Serving the financial needs of approximately 13 million individual and institutional customers in the United States, Voya is a Fortune 500 company that had $11 billion in revenue in 2015. The company had $458 billion in total assets under management and administration as of March 31, 2016. With a clear mission to make a secure financial future possible — one person, one family, one institution at a time — Voya's vision is to be America's Retirement Company™. The company is equally committed to conducting business in a way that is socially, environmentally, economically and ethically responsible — Voya has been recognized as one of the 2016 World's Most Ethical Companies^® by the Ethisphere Institute, and as one of the Top Green Companies in the U.S., by Newsweek magazine. For more information, visit voya.com. Follow Voya Financial on Facebook and Twitter @Voya.