When it comes to making acquisitions in the asset management space, there's at least one area in particular that piques the interest of Voya's [profile] chief.

"We further have talked about the extension of our terrific performance with investment management by way of example in adding some international distribution," Rod Martin, CEO of all of Voya, said in response to a question from Sandler O'Neill analyst John Barnidge on Voya's Q2 2018 earnings call last week, as transcribed by Seeking Alpha. Barnidge specifically asked about M&A and partnership opportunities for two Voya business lines, retirement and investment management.

Earlier in the call, Martin highlighted Voya IM's "10 consecutive quarters of positive Investment Management-sourced net flows."

Later, during Q&A, Voya IM chief Christine Hurtsellers fielded a question by Dowling & Partners analyst Humphrey Lee, who asked about the importance of the no-fee index funds unveiled last week by a giant Voya rival. Hurtsellers noted that Voya IM's index funds only have $18 billion, about nine percent of the asset manager's $207.152 billion in AUM.

"These types of things don't rattle us at all or come unexpected," Hurtsellers said. "We are competing in our specialized strategies that you can't replicate."

Last week Voya reported $52 million in adjusted operating earnings before income taxes for Voya IM in Q2 2018, down 14.75 percent from Q1 2018 and 38.82 percent year-over-year. Part of that hit is thanks to Voya's sale of its variable, fixed, and fixed indexed annuities business, a deal that closed on June 1. 

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