SBLI of New York Switches to Mutual Structure
SBLI Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York has converted to a mutual structure and appointed seven new members to its board of directors.Formerly called Savings Banks Life Insurance Fund of New York, SBLI operated for 60 years as a thrift-insurance cooperative owned by a consortium of savings banks that underwrote low-cost life insurance to sell to their customers.
A mutual life insurance company is owned by its policyholders.
The new directors, who joined the board Jan. 3, include David L. Hinds, a managing director of Deutsche Bank, but otherwise come from outside the banking industry. They join seven existing directors, all community bank executives.
New England Life Shifts Wholesaling to L.A.
New England Life Insurance Co. has transferred its bank wholesaling operations to sister company Security First Group.Effective Jan. 1, Security First Group, a third-party marketer in Los Angeles, took over eight accounts from New England Life, a Boston-based subsidiary of Metropolitan Life Insurance Co.
New England Life will continue to provide marketing, promotion, and client service for the products, a New England Life spokeswoman said.
The shift was part of a companywide streamlining in anticipation of MetLife's public offering, expected in the third quarter, she said.
Security First's bank channel has more than 80 clients. Its sales in 1999 were more than $400 million.
New Owner Renames Societe Generale Funds
Societe Generale Asset Management Corp.'s mutual fund family has been renamed to reflect the fund unit's recent change in ownership.The SoGen Funds were renamed the First Eagle SoGen Funds on Dec. 31, when Arnhold & S. Bleichroeder, a New York-based investment bank, bought 80.1% of Societe Generale Asset Management from the Paris-based bank Societe Generale.
In 18 months, the former SoGen Funds and Arnhold's First Eagle Funds will be combined into one fund family, at which time the SoGen name will disappear, an Arnhold spokesman said.
There is no overlap between the fund groups, the spokesman said.
The SoGen Funds' portfolio managers, Jean-Marie Eveillard and Charles de Vaulx, have agreed to manage the funds for at least five years.
The First Eagle family consists of two mutual funds and seven offshore funds with a total of $2.2 billion of assets under management. The First Eagle SoGen Funds comprise four mutual funds, an offshore fund, and a variable annuity, and manage $2.6 billion of assets.
Wamu Fund to Invest in Mid-Cap Companies
Washington Mutual Inc. of Seattle plans to launch a mid-cap mutual fund in March.The fund, as yet unnamed, will invest in companies with market capitalization of $1 billion to $10 billion.
"This will allow us to more finely tune our asset allocation strategy,'' said Joel Calvo, the $175 billion-asset thrift's executive vice president for financial services. "It gives a lot of the return of small-cap [funds] with reduced risk."
The WM Group of Funds comprises 18 mutual funds and manages $7.4 billion of assets.
- Compiled by Amy L. Anderson
