Bankers Trust New York Corp., eager to find new sales outlets for its year-old family of variable annuities, is touting its success in attracting big-name money managers for the products.
The banking company has assembled a team of investment experts to manage the 11 portfolios in the GoldenSelect family of variable annuities.
The "sheer variety" of offerings is helping Bankers Trust to compete for shelf space at brokerages and banks, said Steve Faticone, vice president in charge of distribution.
Mr. Faticone, who joined Bankers Trust last spring from Dreyfus Corp., heads the company's effort to land annuity sales contracts.
Some of the companies he has snared deals with so far include Primevest Financial Services, St. Cloud, Minn.; Independent Financial Marketing Group, White Plains, N.Y.; PaineWebber Inc., New York; and Dain Bosworth, a regional brokerage based in Minneapolis.
Bankers Trust's own money managers run three of the portfolios in the GoldenSelect lineup -- an emerging markets equity fund and two bond funds.
But the other eight are managed by well-known advisers that are unconnected to Bankers Trust.
They include Zweig Advisors and Warburg, Pincus Counsellors, which manage some mainstream stock and bond funds; Chancellor Trust Co., which oversees a real estate portfolio; and Van Eck Association, which manages a natural resources fund.
American Skandia Life Assurance Co., Shelton, Conn, has added a mutual fund from Berger Associates Inc., Denver, to its variable annuity program.
The insurance company, which markets its products through banks and other financial intermediaries, chose the fund based on Berger's name recognition and performance record, said Alan Blank, American Skandia's national sales manager for banks.
The Berger Capital Growth Portfolio joins a list of 35 other mutual funds which American Skandia offers as investment options through its variable annuities.
Those products include portfolios from Alliance Capital Management, Janus Capital, and Scudder, Stevens, & Clark.
