MassMutual’s Retirement Services Division has rebranded its mutual funds lineup to distinguish between those it manages directly and the funds using subadvisors. As part of the move, the insurer plans to move four existing funds to subadvisors and readying a new fixed income offering for plan sponsors in January.

The four funds now managed by MassMutual that will hire subavisors include: MassMutual Premier Capital Appreciation Fund, MassMutual Premier Global Fund, MassMutual Premier Main Street Fund, and MassMutual Premier Strategic Income Fund.

The division splits the funds offered by MassMutual Retirement into the MassMutual Premier Funds and MassMutual Select Funds. The Premier funds will each be subadvised by MassMutual or one of its investment management affiliates. Those affiliates include Babson Capital Management LLC and OppenheimerFunds, Inc.

Meanwhile, the Select funds will each be subadvised by an external money manager.

Springfield, Massachusetts-based MassMutual was one of the first bundled plan providers to build out a family of branded, subadvised mutual funds for plan sponsors in the mid-1990s.

Officials at the firm said that the move will enable MassMutual retirement plan clients to provide access to a wider array of sub-advised investment options. Officials added that it will also emphasize MassMutual’s belief in the value added by the sub-advised structure, which enables MassMutual to closely monitor its selected managers’ portfolio performance and management activities, providing an added layer of supervision and due diligence designed to benefit the interests of its clients.

"We believe our sub-advised approach to investment options allows us to work more effectively on behalf of plan sponsors and retirement investors by providing a degree of oversight and flexibility that might otherwise be unavailable," said Frederick C. Castellani, executive vice president and head of MassMutual’s Retirement Services Division. "These changes ultimately will help position us to continue to expand our investment option line-up and to offer a robust range of options covering the main asset classes typically available to retirement investors." 

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