Voya Financial Expands Advisory Program, Launching Hybrid Registered Investment Advisory (RIA) Platform

New platform enables Voya's broker-dealer to drive strong growth of advisory business, expanding opportunities to support clients with holistic advice and guidance

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Voya Financial, Inc.

Sep 02, 2015, 09:00 ET

WINDSOR, Conn., Sept. 2, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE: VOYA), announced today that its broker-dealer, Voya Financial Advisors, has launched a hybrid registered investment advisory (RIA) platform. As a result of this launch, certain financial advisors affiliated with Voya Financial Advisors have the ability to operate with greater flexibility to meet a wide range of customer needs while enabling them to build and expand their practices. The broker-dealer's advisory business grew to $9.92 billion in 2014, up 25 percent from the previous year, reflecting a focus on positioning advisors to deliver holistic advice that can help clients get ready to retire better by planning, investing and protecting their savings.

"The introduction of a hybrid RIA platform is a natural next step for us," said Tom Halloran, president of Voya Financial Advisors. "As we continue to evolve as a leading broker-dealer, it is important for us to deliver the right mix of products, services and resources to support top-tier financial advisors. Giving sophisticated advisors the ability to operate as an independent RIA helps them deliver a broader suite of client services and, ultimately build a more well-rounded practice."

Under a hybrid RIA model, financial advisors can offer advisory-based services and solutions to clients as an independent RIA, while keeping their traditional brokerage business and registration with Voya Financial Advisors. This model enables advisors to operate their own RIA firm for fee-based business and simultaneously leverage a broker-dealer for commission-based products. As an independent RIA, advisors have the opportunity to offer a wider range of advice and guidance solutions in order to design a holistic, personalized financial plan to meet their clients' needs. As the responsibility for achieving retirement security increasingly shifts from institutions to individuals, more Americans are seeking highly tailored services and customized portfolios from their financial advisors.

One of the major themes in the independent financial advisor space in recent years has been the significant growth of the hybrid RIA firm. Between 2004 and 2013, the number of advisors who adopted a hybrid RIA business model grew 21.8 percent annually, according to Cerulli Associates' 2014 Intermediate Distribution report.

"We're seeing much greater interest in the hybrid RIA model among advisors," commented Andre Robinson, head of advisory services at Voya Financial Advisors. "For sophisticated advisors, the hybrid RIA model offers the best of both worlds — greater flexibility to offer advisory-based services as an independent RIA while leveraging Voya's brand strength, technology and resources."

Advisors operating under a hybrid RIA model have access to a full range of Voya's technology resources, including the Voya WealthSolutions platform for managing fee-based business. This platform helps to consolidate, organize and analyze financial information from retirement accounts and a number of other sources. A hybrid RIA model is designed for experienced, sophisticated practices with substantial assets under management, the willingness and ability to build a dual registration model and a client base that would benefit from customized investment strategies.

Voya Financial Advisors is a top-tier independent broker-dealer 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 Contacts:
Joe Loparco
Voya Financial
Office: (860) 580-2677
Cell: (860) 462-6525
[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 2014. The company had $484 billion in total assets under management and administration as of June 30, 2015. 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 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 or view the company's 2014 annual report. Follow Voya Financial on Facebook and Twitter @Voya.