Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE:VOYA) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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It’s really about, as we think about it, how we’re building momentum into 2015. And that may sound like a long time away. But again, when you factor in that ’25, I should say, you should factor in just that sales cycle that’s going on there. And so, the conversations that we’re having are different. Importantly, they all sort of lead into this confidence around bringing together benefits and savings, simplifying an environment for HR teams that is incredibly complex. Thinking about leveraging, again, a technology decision with product decisions over time. Again, those things may not all happen at once, but the build over a long period of time is what we get really excited about and we have optimism around. We just had people in front of our board from our sales distribution team sharing live examples of the conversations and how they’re different today than they would have been 12 months ago.

So that leaves us in a really strong position from strategic alignment with where we’re going. And I’ll let Heather chime in.

Heather Lavallee: Yes. Thanks, Rob. And I’ll really emphasize a few key points. You think about it’s been a year since we announced the acquisition. And this has been a highly strategic acquisition for us to be able to bring on top benefits administration platforms, so that’s point one. Secondly, you think about the benefits of Voya as the owner of this entity. And we have been able to accelerate bringing new capabilities to market for Benefitfocus. We did so on time to be able to hit the sale cycle. Third point is we’ve stabilized the service heading into open enrollment. And four, as Rob mentioned, we’ve got a strong pipeline with intermediaries, which is where we see the biggest growth. So, we could not be more excited about what Benefitfocus will bring for us. As Rob mentioned, really thinking about it in terms of ’25 and beyond, but we are super excited about this strategic acquisition.

Alex Scott: Got it. Second question, I had is on the Department of Labor fiduciary rule. I know it’s early, but just any thoughts on how it could impact your business? And I guess, I’m particularly interested and if you have any views and if it would have any impact on sort of proprietary funds and the wealth solutions business, or if it would impact around like IRA rollovers, that kind of thing. Thanks.

Christine Hurtsellers: Yes, yes, Alex, I’ll take it. And just to say, it’s super early with it just coming out, our teams are certainly paying attention to it. We continue to focus in on delivering for our participants and doing right in the best interest. So again, early days and stay tuned more to come once we get our arms around it.

Alex Scott: Okay. thank you.

Operator: Our next question comes from Suneet Kamath with Jefferies. Please proceed with your question.

Suneet Kamath: Thanks. Good morning. A couple on wealth solutions, I think, you talked about a $12 billion pipeline. Should we think about that is essentially in flight in terms of onboarding or is there still some — is there still like a risk that you don’t get that like you’re in final negotiations or final contests with other players? I just — when we talk about these pipelines, I just want to understand how we’re sort of defining them, like how confident can we be in closing on the pipeline?

Rob Grubka: Yes. sure, Suneet. this is Rob again. So, this we feel very confident in. We’ve got people, sweating over implementation as we speak. So, these will obviously come in over the full-year period. But the way to think about them is clients in implementation. And so the level of uncertainty is very unlikely that those things change. We feel really confident in what we’re doing there and what we’re seeing. And I would just add, look, this is a broad-based conversation, not just all from one segment of our business. So, whether you think about tax codes, you think about sizes. This represents a 15% jump over prior year. And we really like the — and it’s consistent with our book of business, but the mix of the business and the strength that implies about the pipeline, broadly speaking.

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