MassMutual offers a suite of more than 60 strategies, the majority of which are subadvised. Most employ strong, unaffiliated subadvisors including major partners T. Rowe Price and Wellington, though Barings (an affiliate) and Invesco (in which MassMutual attained mid-teens percentage minority ownership following its 2019 sale of OppenheimerFunds) each manage a handful of offerings. The firm’s due-diligence practices have produced long-term subadvisory relationships, but the teams that handle both subadvisor selection and asset allocation for its in-house target risk portfolios have struggled with turnover in recent years. Fees across the firm’s fund suite are mostly average, and it has undergone outflows in recent years.
MassMutual has taken steps to address these challenges, including hiring Andrea Anastasio as head of investment management solutions in July 2021. Anastasio brings a background in product strategy and management, and her mandate includes allotting resources where they have been lacking. To this end, the firm added a team focused on portfolio analytics and hired Wale Adedokun as head of manager research in 2022. Reaching a new clientele is also on the agenda. Following the sale of its recordkeeping business to Empower in 2020, MassMutual is striving to build its presence in the private wealth channel outside of its traditional stronghold in the retirement space.