USAA Asset Management Co now Victory Capital franchise

[KSGkid]

Yesterday's CEO announcement of the Victory Capital acquisition feels like a betrayal - and not a well executed one at that.

How can there be so many important decisions still in the air - including the Board's vote of approval?! Are these statements in the announcement supposed to inspire confidence? 

     "...USAA is reviewing strategic alternatives to provide additional value to our members. The review includes conversations with industry leaders, and no decisions have been made." 

     "...Victory Capital announcement and until decisions are made on the strategic alternatives for the Wealth Management business...."

Good leadership and good stewardship means getting strategic ducks in a row and doing due diligence for risk reduction before making such a move. Instead we have evidence of a plan partially considered and many member questions left as unanswerable.

If I wanted my money managed by an umbrella company like Victory, I would never have brought it to USAA in the first place. Victory has doubled their AUM with this acquisition - great for them, but what REALLY will be the advantage for USAA investors? Is this USAA's move to repair this downward trend:

     "Barron’s named USAA Asset Management the 12th Best Fund Family of 2016 and the 23rd Best Fund Family of 2017. It was also ranked 3rd in the taxable bond category for 2016 and 5th for 2017."

   USAA Asset Management Company will become Victory Capital’s 11th Investment Franchise.  I don't want more overhead. Spend a little more time to justify this decision and the strategic - as well as tactical - value to your investing members. Otherwise, there will be a quick exit of my investment portfolio to a more trustworthy firm. I'm not your biggest investor, but I am among the most unhappy this morning.

[Aarp · Accepted solution]

Agree 100 % with KSGkid.   And take a look at Victory funds.   Relative to USAA and other "known" firms,  Victory's fund choices are limited and have extremely high expense ratios (and many with loads) compared to comparable funds with other firms.    Why was this decision held from we members until it was suddenly sprung on us yesterday by the CEO.  And then as KSkid said,  with all the "unknowns"  how was there any due diligence ?    The CEO has allot of explaining to do beyond his statement yeaterday.  Explaining of facts that should be known NOW if any true due diligence was done to make this decision.  How can there even be a FAQ section when this announcement is one day old. 

[50 Year Client]

Sent this Note to our Wealth Manager... Think it may have a wider application in USAA Community:

This Announcement comes as a bit of a Surprise!

Can you confirm for us that this "Acquisition" will not turn into another Fiasco where our Account Numbers were arbitrarily changed, making it virtually impossible to track the Performance History of our Accounts before, during, and after the Transition.

If we are being handed off to someone we know nothing about, it may make sense for us to move on to someone we DO know something about (Vanguard, for example??)

Also, while USAA continues with vague Assurances about quality of Services by someone over which they have little, if any control, NOTHING is mentioned about potential Costs and Fees.

STRONGLY recommend that USAA provide some FIRM guidance regarding the REAL questions of concern to Investors… Simply passing these Questions off "Until decisions are made on the strategic alternatives for the Wealth Management business" does not cut it!

We have been associated with USAA for over a half Century.  Insurance and Banking Experience has been outstanding.  Wealth Management Performance compared to the Market (S&P 500 and various USAA-defined Benchmarks has been mediocre at best). We have tolerated this Level of Performance more from Inertia and Feelings of Loyalty, rather than Competitive Excellence.

We look to some FIRM Assurance that USAA's promises are more than vague Platitudes.

[eks]

USAA did this also in 2014 where USAA transfered all brokerage accounts to National Financial Services, LLC (NFS), this not only resulted in getting new account numbers, having to re-do TOD, and getting 2-separate  1099s for that tax year which would not import into turbo tax correctly, they also increased all fees. USAA's platform is terrible and they have slowly but surely eliminated all my confidence in USAA. As members we should be given the option to transfer our brokerage accounts to other firms in kind (other than liquidationg our USAA funds) without be charged a fee. USAA members were not given any information regarding this transfer other than an abbreviated supplement.  

[jimmyb84]

Honestly I think it was a combination of things to make this happen, you could tell that USAA really was not making any headway on new offerings within their own mutual funds and they had already used NFS to handle the transactions themselves, which offered Fidelity funds at no cost, this, along with the fact that members constantly complained about trading capability is what probably led them to this decision, honestly it looks like Victory sucks and doesn't have many product offerings, I may be wrong, but when you go on their site, doesn't look like they offer anything other than their overpriced funds. My question is what affect does this have on their deal with NFS and Fidelity funds, which are not bad?

[jimmyb84]

What mutual funds are being referred to and where can we find a list of funds that Victory Capital offers?

[Briana Hartzell USAA · Accepted solution]

@jimmyb84

Thanks for your question. You can find a list of funds offered on usaa.com/investmentsupdate – there is additional information and a link off to VCM.com investment updates (www.vcm.com/investmentsupdate).

From the VCM.COM page – you can click ‘home’ and it will take you to their home page which lists the funds and ETFs under their umbrella.

Thank you

[Aarp]

Doesn't take much looking on Victories TERRIBLE web site to see that Victory Funds are TERRIBLE.   I see zero value in having there funds to chose from.   Will my current USAA funds still be maintained at the same cost?   Will I still have access to NTF Fidelity Funds and other current none USAA Family Funds at  NTF ?

These are questions that should already be answerable if USAA did any kind of due deligence before making this decision.

[USAA Social Service]

Thanks for reaching out, @Aarp - I've asked a colleague in that area to address your questions. I wish you and your family a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. - Cathleen

[LeFew]

Victory Capital?  Websites are not everything but how cheesy is Victory's, I mean, really.  Not a lot of good info on the company either nor its offerings.  This is the best choice for USAA "members"?  I think the communique to membership could have given some more in-depth info.  Not feeling too good about this acquisition.  Are the fees going to be higher or lower?  So what if there are more offerings.  Are the offerings good?  Putting out a communication that does not answer anything really does not make one feel very confident that member interests are paramount.