A 30-year Columbia Threadneedle veteran is helping launch a new channel for an annuity giant. They're already tapping into about 130 investment options from 35 asset managers.

Joe Feloney joined Jackson National Life Distributors' new private wealth and trust group on August 1 as a managing director. Justin Fitzpatrick leads that new Jackson effort, which was unveiled on November 1 and features Jackson's new Private Wealth Shield tax-deferred variable annuity platform. Watch for Fitzpatrick to further expand his team down the line.

Our sister publication 401kWire broke the news last month about Feloney's move.

The private wealth and trust channel is traditionally fee-based, so traditional, commission-based variable annuities have not been a good fit there historically. Yet the Jackson's Private Wealth Shield is designed for fee-based firms, as it includes no 12b-1 fees, no commissions, and no surrender charges.

"Historically annuities have not really been accessible from within the fiduciary channels," Fitzpatrick tells MFWire. "We're providing a tool that's never existed before, in a segment of the wealth management world that has never had access to it before."

"To our knowledge this is a unique initiative and a unique team," Feloney tells MFWire. "There's a real and growing need to reduce tax erosion on wealth."

"Taxes are the biggest drag on net investment performance," Fitzpatrick agrees. "Having another powerful tool to address that drag is attractive.

Private Wealth Shield is mostly subadvised, and the sub-accounts cover the spectrum of styles, including active, passive, and strategic beta strategies. The asset managers working with the new platform so far include: Capital Group's American Funds; AQR; BlackRock, Robeco's Boston Partners; Brookfield; Causeway; Legg Mason's ClearBridge; Crescent; DFA; DoubleLine; Eaton Vance; FAMCO; FPA; Franklin Templeton; Goldman Sachs; GQG; Natixis' Harris; Invesco; J.P. Morgan; Lazard; Mellon; MFS; Neuberger Berman; Nicholas; MassMutual's OppenheimerFunds; Allianz's Pimco; PPM; Standard and Poor's Investment Advisory Services; T. Rowe Price; the Boston Company Asset Management; the London Company of Virginia; Vanguard; WCM; Westchester; and Wellington.

"Jackson has a deep process of both evaluating and searching for new investment offerings," Fitzpatrick says.

Feloney is one of three managing directors in Fitzpatrick's new team, and Fitzpatrick may hire more.

"We will add managing directors as needed over time," Fitzpatrick says. "The sorts of people who would thrive in our group are folks like Joe with extensive experience in fiduciary channels."

Feloney, an alumnus of both Northeastern and Bentley, spent more than 30 years at Columbia in a variety of roles. He most recently served as senior vice president and national sales manager for the private client advisory, DC I-O, and subadvised channels before leaving the Ameriprise subsidiary last April.

"The majority of my career was fiduciary-focused on private wealth and trust," Feloney says, adding that he's excited to work with the "new specialized team" and the "innovative product strategy" in the new channel at Jackson.

"We're on the ground floor of a startup backed by the leading annuity company," Feloney says. "This could transform the way the industry is done." 

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