Principal^® taps industry veteran to lead liability-driven investing capability for pension plans

Principal Financial Group^® announced today the addition of Owais Rana to its global asset management business, Principal Global Investors^®, as head of liability-driven investing (LDI). In this newly created role, Rana will lead the growth of this core investment opportunity, enhancing the firm’s industry-leading pension servicing capabilities and bringing deep investment and risk management expertise to its pension clients.

“Owais understands the complexities pension clients face and has spent over 20 years designing, building, and managing retirement solutions,” said Kamal Bhatia, chief operating officer, Principal Global Investors. “As our global asset management expertise continues to support our industry-leading retirement capabilities, he brings a vast amount of strategic experience and deep passion for solving the challenges of this unique client set.”

Liability-driven investing is an area of emphasis and growth for Principal^®, and Principal Global Investors currently manages $21.5 billion¹ in liability-oriented investment portfolios. This focus on LDI will further enhance private markets and solutions capabilities, two strategic imperatives for the company’s asset management business. The investment capability contributes to the overall pension solutions that Principal offers clients, including the Principal^® Complete Pension Solution,² a technology-driven approach to pension risk management that can be tailored to individual plan needs.

“Pension management and de-risking is a pressing need for employers of all sizes throughout the United States, and as a national leader in the defined benefit space, we are focused on enhancing our offerings to help meet their needs,” said Chris Littlefield, president of Retirement and Income Solutions for Principal, “Owais will bring critical expertise to help provide the LDI solutions our clients need to address their pension-related challenges and opportunities.”

Rana comes to Principal Global Investors from Moody’s Analytics, where he was responsible for designing and leading business development and marketing strategies for North American institutional asset owners, investment and actuarial consultants, and asset management firms. Prior to Moody’s, Rana held managing director roles at both Conning Asset Management and J.P Morgan Asset Management, where he was global head of LDI, responsible for designing, building, and managing the LDI solutions businesses to grow assets under management.

With continued focus on higher growth opportunities, the LDI segment offers Principal an opportunity to scale a key retirement offering through deep investment expertise, providing clients with a robust opportunity set for all their pension servicing needs. Principal is the market leader in defined benefit pension plans³ and a leader in pension risk transfer⁴ through its Principal^® Total Retirement Solutions.