Employment-based health insurance coverage for Americans under the age of 65 has been on a roller coaster ride as of late, with the trend headed downhill in recent years but still roughly constant since 1994, according to a study.
The Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) study finds that in the last half-dozen years, the percentage of individuals with employment-based health benefits decreased from 68.4% in 2000 to 62.2% in 2006, though compared with 1994, the percentage of individuals with employment-based health benefits is largely unchanged.
While the percentage of the non-elderly population with employment-based health benefits was unchanged from 2006 to 2007, this should not be viewed as an indicator of things to come, the study notes.
Unemployment is higher in 2008 than in 2007, meaning that fewer individuals will have access to health insurance through a job, and gas and food prices are higher, meaning that more individuals will have to choose between health insurance and basic necessities.
Click here to download a copy of the study from EBRI’s website.
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Sell-Side Sales-Traders Losing Clout
Institutions across Europe are gearing up for a major move into electronic equity trading that will include a significant push into execution options such as crossing networks, dark pools and algorithmic trading strategies.
The results of Greenwich Associates’ 2008 European Equity Investors study reveal that institutions currently execute about two thirds of their European equity trading volume through “high-touch” trades facilitated by broker sales-traders.
“In our research around the world, it is extremely rare to see institutions predicting such a radical change in practice in such a relatively short span of time,” says Greenwich Associates consultant John Colon.
Already, the proportion of European equity trading volume executed through traditional high touch trades facilitated by a broker sales-trader has fallen to just two-thirds, from 69% in 2006-2007 and 70% in 2005-2006.
The institutions participating in Greenwich the study expect that share to drop to slightly more than one half of total trading volume by 2010.
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JPMorgan Launches Target Date Navigator
JPMorgan Asset Management (JPMAM) has launched Target Date Navigator, a patent-pending evaluation process to help advisors and their plan sponsor clients identify target date funds most closely aligned to a plan’s goals and participants’ savings behavior.
Target Date Navigator is the first framework to categorize funds according to their investment composition and glide path strategy, creating a map of the target date fund universe.
Since not all target date funds are created equal and generally differ according to their investment time horizons and level of asset class diversification, JPMAM says this tool fills a necessary void in the marketplace in determining which funds might best fit the particular needs and the goals of each retirement plan.
“What we have found in the marketplace is a real disconnect in the alignment of participants’ behaviors and needs, plan sponsors’ goals, and target date strategy selection,” says David Musto, a managing director at JPMorgan Asset Management. “Retirement advisors and plan sponsors have been hungry for an easy to use and intuitive target date evaluation solution.”
“The Navigator does not favor any specific type of target date strategy,” he adds. “What it does is distinguish the differences between various funds and helps advisors and plan sponsors select a good fit for their plan sponsor clients and participants.”
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The Hartford to Expand in Germany
The Hartford Financial Services Group plans to enter Germany and will sell variable annuities starting in the first quarter of 2009.
The products will be available through Hartford Life Limited, the group’s European insurer, upon regulatory clearance of the opening of a German branch of this company.
Germany, with the world’s third largest economy, is expected to be a robust market for variable annuities. German households have US$5.8 trillion in assets, $2.77 trillion of which is in cash, according to Statistisches Bundesamt Deutschland.
Most of the world’s pension assets are outside of the United States and The Hartford says it is focusing on the largest markets with aging populations, declining birth rates and shrinking worker-to-retiree ratios.
Germany’s population is aging, with one in three people projected to be age 60 or older by 2025, and millions of people leaving the workforce for retirement.
“We believe there is an enormous opportunity in Germany to help consumers save and invest for a financially secure retirement,” says Marc Lieberman, president and chief executive officer of Hartford Life Limited. “Germans are becoming increasingly aware that they will need sufficient assets to support them through 20, 30 or even 40 years of retirement.”
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Manulife Enters Japanese Fund Market
Manulife Financial is hoping to be big in Japan by attempting to crack the mutual fund market in Japan.
At an investment conference in Tokyo on Tuesday, the insurance firm said it obtained a licence for investment trusts, which are similar to mutual funds, and announced it would offer a fund invested in different global assets next month.
Despite the intense competition from Daiwa Asset Management, Nomura Asset Management, Fidelity and Invesco, Manulife thinks there is room for growth.
Approximately half of Japan’s US$14 trillion in household financial assets are in cash or deposits. In the United States, only 14% of assets are kept in deposits and a larger percentage are in mutual funds compared to Japan.