Page 17 - 2015 Ameritas Annual Report

Retirement Plans
For the retirement plans division, a key initiative in 2015 was the continued, successful implementation of a state-of-the-art recordkeeping system into our daily processing operations, enhancing fundamental business interactions and everyday communications with retirement plans clients This integration provides those clients, and their participants, with a variety of paperless processing options, driving new ef ciency and resulting in shorter turnaround times from request to delivery A further bene t has been the introduction of an enhanced quarterly statement detailing important information speci c to the participant’s personal retirement account
In addition, we realigned our sales team to better serve a diverse and growing network of distribution partners to support their needs at every point of the sales process
Calvert Investments, Inc.
Calvert Investments continued to generate strong investment performance relative to benchmarks
in its equity, xed income and asset allocation portfolios, while also making several improvements to bene t shareholders, and introducing new products to create long-term value The Calvert Research System was signi cantly enhanced in 2015, driven by a principles-based methodology known as the Calvert Principles for Responsible Investment The Calvert Responsible Index Series was introduced, offering investors a suite of responsible index choices
Ameritas Investment Corp.
Ameritas Investment Corp experienced a 7 3 percent increase in investment advisory revenue
in 2015, primarily due to the continued migration
of investors to fee-based investment models Enhancements were made to the operating platform and new technology tools were provided to our team of nancial advisors
The capital markets division generated a 28 3 percent increase in par value of bond underwritings, closing the year at 237 total issues and $846 million of par value Municipalities, school and utility districts, colleges and universities, hospitals and other entities bene tted from the division’s management of bond issues that funded an array of community facilities and services A public nance of ce was opened in Kansas City, Missouri, to better serve clients throughout the region
Ameritas Investment Partners, Inc.
Ameritas Investment Partners delivered a strong performance in 2015 For the year, assets under management increased by 7 9 percent, to $15 5 billion This increase was driven by acquisitions, and by asset growth in the insurance company general account and separate accounts Growth in the insurance company general account can be found in the expansion of
its commercial mortgage, xed income portfolios, structured securities investments and other new investment initiatives
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