New York-based Schroder Investment Management North America has launched two mutual funds, the Schroder Emerging Markets Small Cap Fund and the Schroder Short Duration Bond Fund.

The funds are designed to seek long-term total return alongside preservation of capital.

The small-cap fund is managed by Allan Conway, Matthew Dobbs, James Gotto and Richard Sennitt, while the emerging markets offering is managed by Andrew Chorlton, Edward Jewett, Richard Rezek Jr., Julio Bonilla and Neil Sutherland.

Earlier this year, Schroder also introduced its R6 share class with no embedded shareholder servicing fees. The new funds will be available in both R6 and investor share classes.

 

Guardian Opens Index Participation to Whole Life Policies

New York’s The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America is getting on the growing S&P 500 index bandwagon.

The company recently announced that it is allowing whole life insurance policyholders to allocate a portion of the cash value from paid-up additions (purchases of additional insurance, such as death benefits, that have cash value) to a new Index Participation Feature. This feature links the cash value to the performance of the S&P 500 Price Return Index.

Cash value added to the new feature will be subject to a 12.5% cap and a 4% guaranteed floor, limiting the policy’s downside exposure. 

In addition, the feature will allow policyholders to change their allocation for future index periods, allowing some flexibility over time.