Company History

 

2023 – Voya India

Voya acquired full ownership of its Indian joint venture, establishing a subsidiary company branded Voya India. Voya India provides significant value for Voya Financial and its customers by enabling 24/7 operations processing, greater automation, faster speed to market and enhanced performance, agility, efficiency and innovation.

2023 – Acquisition of Benefitfocus, Inc.

Voya acquired Benefitfocus, Inc., an industry-leading benefits administration technology company that serves employers, health plans and brokers. The transaction — which enhanced Voya’s offering of integrated health and wealth solutions and capabilities for intermediaries, employers and employees — expanded Voya’s reach to serve the workplace benefits and savings needs of approximately 38 million individuals, or roughly one in 10 Americans.

2022 – Acquisition of Czech Asset Management

Voya Investment Management acquired Czech Asset Management; a leading private credit asset manager dedicated to the U.S. middle market. With more than $5 billion of committed capital across four funds since its founding in 2011, Czech Asset Management specializes in providing privately negotiated first and second lien floating rate senior secured loans primarily to U.S. middle market companies. The addition of the team brings to Voya IM strong relationships with a robust group of investment partnerships, including public and private pension funds, endowments, foundations, religious organizations and Taft Hartley plans.

2022 – Allianz Global Investors transaction

Voya transferred the income and growth, fundamental equity, and private placement investment teams and the associated assets under management that comprised the substantial majority of Allianz Global Investors’ (AllianzGI) U.S. business to Voya Investment Management. In addition, Voya and AllianzGI formed a long-term, strategic distribution partnership whereby AllianzGI will distribute Voya Investment Management investment strategies outside the U.S. and Canada.

2022 – Acquisition of Tygh Capital Management

Voya Investment Management acquired the investment advisory business and certain other assets of small-cap growth specialist Tygh Capital Management (TCM). Founded in 2004 in Portland, Oregon, TCM specializes in small-cap and small/mid-cap growth investing for both institutional and retail investors. 

2021 – Acquisition of Benefit Strategies

Voya acquired Benefit Strategies, LLC, a leading third-party administrator of health savings and spending accounts. Benefit Strategies provides administrative services for COBRA, direct billing, flexible spending accounts, health savings accounts, health reimbursement arrangements and other services to more than 3,400 employers and nearly 370,000 participant accounts throughout the U.S.

2021 – Sale of Voya’s individual life insurance business

Voya divested substantially all of its individual life insurance and other legacy non-retirement annuities businesses through a transaction that created a new company — Resolution Life US. The transaction simplified Voya’s portfolio of businesses and enabled Voya to fully focus on leveraging its core strengths in serving the workplace and institutional clients.

2019 – Joint partnership in India

Voya established a joint venture partnership in India to provide supplemental business operations and technology services to Voya Financial and built a company with a vision to empower success and innovative customer solutions through transformation, digitalization and automation of technology and business operations.

2018 – Acquisition of Pen-Cal Administrators, Inc.

Pen-Cal Administrators, Inc., a leading provider of nonqualified deferred compensation benefit plans and consulting services, was acquired and became part of Voya’s Retirement business as Voya focused on ways to further serve workplace clients with innovative compensation benefits, such as nonqualified retirement plans, that are becoming an increasingly important way for employers to attract and reward key members of their workforce.

2018 – Sale of the majority of Voya’s annuities business

Voya divested substantially all of its variable, fixed and fixed indexed annuities businesses through a transaction that created a new, independent company — Venerable Holdings, Inc. The transaction represented actions taken to significantly reduce market and insurance risk for Voya and its shareholders and marked the beginning of a simplification of Voya’s portfolio of businesses to focus on the workplace and institutional clients.

2014 – Transition to Voya Financial

Voya Financial, Inc. debuted in April and completed its rebranding in September. Voya is an abstract name coined from the word ‘voyage.’ The name reflects momentum and optimism. It reminds us that a secure financial future is more than just reaching a destination; it’s about a journey to financial empowerment, and having positive experiences along the way.

2013 – New brand unveiled and IPO

After two years of transforming the strategy, financial profile and culture of the company, ING U.S. began trading as a public company on the NYSE under the ticker symbol VOYA, which represents its future brand identity, Voya Financial.

2010 – ING Reinsurance and three broker-dealers of ING Advisors Network sold

As part of the company’s “Back to Basics” effort, ING Group sold the U.S. group reinsurance business to Reinsurance Group of America, Inc. in January 2010. The following month, the company closed a deal with Lightyear Capital for the purchase of Financial Network Investment Corporation, Multi-Financial Securities Corporation, and PrimeVest Financial Services, which along with ING Financial Partners, Inc., collectively did business as ING Advisors Network. The three broker-dealers that were sold now operate at Cetera Financial Group.

2008 – Acquisition of CitiStreet

CitiStreet was one of the nation’s largest retirement plan recordkeepers, offering products and services for defined contribution, defined benefit and health and welfare plans. The “Citi” in CitiStreet originated as H.C. Copeland and Associates in 1976. Copeland administered and serviced retirement plans in the education, government and healthcare market segments. The "Street" in CitiStreet dates back to the mid-1970s, offering recordkeeping, fiduciary, investment-management, and communications services for a variety of plans. The two businesses were merged to become CitiStreet in April 2000.

2000 – Acquisition of Aetna Financial Services

Aetna Life Insurance Company was incorporated in Connecticut in 1853. From 1861 Aetna began to expand its product range turning the company into a multiple-line insurer. In order to focus mainly on health insurance, Aetna started selling parts of its business.

2000 – Acquisition of ReliaStar

ReliaStar’s predecessor Northwestern National Life Insurance Company (NWNL) was founded in 1885 in Minneapolis. It grew into one of the largest financial services companies in the U.S., offering life insurance, annuities, mutual funds, group insurance and reinsurance. In 1967, it purchased North Atlantic Life Insurance Company of Jericho, NY. In 1977, it acquired Northern Life Insurance Company of Seattle. These companies were unified under the ReliaStar brand in 1995. The company continued to grow through acquisitions, including Pilgrim Funds, a mutual funds business acquired in 1999.

1997 – Acquisition of Furman Selz

Furman Selz was founded in the U.S. in 1973 as a research-driven investment boutique. It was an employee-owned investment bank with offices throughout the United States and in London, Dublin and Tokyo. Furman Selz’s investment banking, securities brokerage activities and asset management activities were integrated into various ING businesses.

1997 – Acquisition of Equitable of Iowa

Equitable Life Insurance Company of Iowa was founded in 1867 by 15 prominent citizens of Des Moines, Iowa. In 1888, co-founder F.M. Hubbell became president of the company. Many of his descendants would assume the same role, most recently Frederick S. Hubbell (1987), who retired as an Executive Board member of ING Group in 2006, and later joined the board of ING U.S., Inc., and Voya Financial, Inc.

1979 – Acquisition of Life of Georgia (sold in 2004)

Life of Georgia insurance company was acquired by Nationale-Nederlanden in 1979, resulting in a considerable increase in activities in the United States.

1977 – Acquisition of Security Life of Denver

The Security Life of Denver Insurance Company was established in 1928 as a life and health insurer. In 1940, it expanded into reinsurance and group insurance. It became part of Nationale-Nederlanden in 1977. In 2004, Southland Life of ING Group was added to Life of Denver.

Early beginnings

Voya Financial evolved from ING Group’s U.S. retirement, investment management and insurance operations. After some smaller initial U.S. business ventures, ING Group predecessor, Nationale-Nederlanden, started building a life insurance business in this country in the mid-1970s when it acquired a majority of Wisconsin National Life Insurance Company in 1975. This was followed by the acquisition of Midwestern United Life Insurance Company in 1976.