See which workplaces made this year's list.

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Employees say:&nbsp;"The benefits are some of the best I have ever had, particularly the backup care and the tuition repayment assistance. From a work standpoint, I also love that my leader appreciates what I have to say and my ideas. I feel connected to and comfortable talking to my leader's leaders, because they have created an environment of openness and caring. There is buzz from my teammates all the way to my boss's boss's boss about the exciting things people are working on, and a connectivity between these levels that I have not experienced with other employers. I do not feel like a cog, I feel like what I do matters and I am excited to be part of my team."

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Fortune partnered with Great Place to Work to analyze survey feedback representing nearly 155,000 U.S. employees.

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Employees say:"I love the culture—volunteerism is really important here and I love that. I love the mindset my team has of working hard and performing quality work; but also have fun and be kind to each other, lead with compassion and understanding. Benefits are great, pay is competitive, and work life balance is real. I feel trusted and respected by my peers and leaders to use my judgment and make the right decisions for my customers. I truly enjoy working here."

Best Large Workplaces in New York

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Fortune 500

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Employees say:"I love the financial support from this company. This is my first employer where I feel like the company actually cares about the wellbeing of the employees with benefits like the student loan assistance, generous 401k match and pension plan. I also enjoy my department a lot and how many opportunities we get to be involved with larger projects, as well as opportunities to lead meetings to develop our leadership &amp; collaboration skills. The volunteer time is also a huge plus for me, it is nice to see the company want to give back."

Fortune partnered with Great Place to Work to analyze survey feedback representing nearly 145,000 U.S. employees.

Employees say:"I love Voya! This is the very best company I have ever worked for, and my loyalty will always be with them. My manager is amazing and supports my dreams here at Voya. Very encouraging and positive. I run to my computer every morning and it's a blessing in itself to work here! I'm proud to say I'm a Voya employee as they put the customer and employees first. We focus on teamwork and always keep the vision in mind. The benefits are phenomenal and I'm confident they give us all the tools we need to be successful. We also have additional training websites for those who want to grow in the organization at no cost! This is unheard of!"

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The 300 companies on this year’s list brought in over $12.6 trillion in revenue for the latest 12 months, with the median revenue figure at $22 billion.

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Employees say:"The support that this company gives women is incredible. Full access to programs like Maven truly shows how much the company cares for women and recognizes the need to provide additional support. Regardless on how difficult things might get at work, the support I have via Maven and other benefits help me to show up to work at my best. I also am a very big fan of the paid volunteer time - it is enough hours to feel that I truly can give back to my community and have a presence. It also allows me to set a great example to my children on social responsibility."

Best Large Workplaces for Parents

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Employees say:"We love to experiment with new ways of doing things. We strive for better efficiency and better experiences for both our customers and ourselves. The company recognizes that we are human and our experiences are vital to connecting with the people we partner with and service."

The companies on this annual list make a conscious effort to be supportive, inclusive workplaces.

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Employees say:"They create an atmosphere where all individuals are accepted for who they are, both in their professional lives and personal lives. Being honest about who you are, being open about who you are is a beautiful way to spend eight hours daily."

100 Best Large Workplaces for Women

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Employees say:"I feel the Voya Cares group is what makes Voya Financial unique in our industry. We really care about people with disabilities and special needs. This team makes a point to discuss this underserved group in our society and how we can look to help individuals and families with these certain circumstances plan for a better retirement future and have their companies help make this happen."

Fortune partnered with Great Place to Work to analyze survey feedback representing nearly 140,000 U.S. employees.

The Fortune 500, in its 70th year in 2024, ranks the biggest U.S. companies by revenue.

Fortune partnered with Great Place to Work to analyze survey feedback representing nearly 100,000 U.S. employees.

GPTW New York 2023-Voya Financial_5003453-3

Employees say: 
 
"The Voya culture is exceptional and continuously reinforced, and the company is very successful. The leadership is extremely talented and visionary—the response to the pandemic was immediate and effective, and Voya has reiterated its commitment to offering a hybrid working environment and not enforcing a full return to the office. Combining forward-thinking business sense with compassion and disability and inclusion, Voya Cares® sets the company apart and seems to resonate with prospective clients as an appealing differentiator."

GPTW Financial Services & Insurance Large 2023-Voya Financial

Employees say: 
 
"The company has a history of giving back to the community, which really brings the employees together and makes you very proud to work for Voya Financial. I love that we can pick a cause to donate to and the company will match your donation. Also, the company gives you 40 hours a year to volunteer, which shows to really want their employees to participate in giving back to their communities—and not just with money but actually helping out."

The Fortune 500, in its 69th year in 2023, ranks the biggest U.S. companies by revenue.

The companies on this year's list stand out for celebrating innovation, promoting cooperation, and more.

GPTW New York Large 2022-Voya Financial

Employees say: 
 
“I think their ability to adapt is unique. I feel this is a great place to work because in the pandemic and even now while things are getting better Voya is listening to their employees preference to where they would like to work from. They might prefer all employees return to the office, but I feel valued and heard because of the work from home opportunity they are giving.” 
 
Read the Great Place to Work review .

GPTW Financial Services Industry Large 2022-Voya Financial

Employees say: 
 
“There is a healthy culture here from the bottom to the top, you can count on others to operate within an inclusive, diverse culture and trust comes easier. I appreciate the opportunities to grow in my career and be my true self at work.”

This year’s Fortune 500 marks the 68th running of the list.

These companies foster supportive cultures, where employees find opportunities for growth with help from their colleagues.

Best Large Workplaces New York 2021-Voya-Financial

Employees say: 
 
“Everyone here works hard and is always willing to go the extra mile for fellow employees and customers. Additionally, everyone is nice and enjoyable to work with, even when facing difficult challenges.”

The best workplaces in financial services and insurance acted as generous corporate citizens amid a year of multiple crises.

Best-Workplaces-Financial-Services-Large-2021-Voya-Financial

Employees say:  
“They've provided me with the means to have a career, care for my family, feel a sense of accomplishment, and so much more. From day one, I've been accepted fully and considered for promotions and advancement based on my skillset and work ethic.”

This year’s Fortune 500 marks the 67th running of the list.

The American financial, retirement, investment, and insurance company is based in New York City and serves more than 14 million customers.

For an astounding 13th straight year, Apple claims the top spot in Fortune’s annual ranking of corporate reputation, based on a survey of almost 3,800 executives, directors, and analysts.

The 40 companies highlighted on this year's list support personal growth, outside-the-box thinking, and diversity in the workplace.

best workplaces new york 2020-Voya Financial

Employees say: 
 
"This job has allowed me to balance family life with work. Due to this job, I am allowed to still play a very active role in my children's life. I can be present during the first day of school or be part of school activities."

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 66th running of the list.

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The financial services company offers retirement savings plans, investment management, and life and employee benefit insurance to corporations and individuals.

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 65th running of the list.

Here are the World's Most Admired Companies for 2018 as ranked in their industries. See who made the list.

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 64th running of the list.

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This year's Fortune 500 marks the 61st running of the list. Wal-Mart claims the top spot again. See who made the list.

Best Workplaces For Women

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Best Workplaces In New York

Best Workplaces In Financial Services And Insurance

Getting workers ready for retirement is the focus of Voya Financial, which provides workplace benefits and savings solutions and technologies in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: wealth solutions, health solutions, and investment management. Voya serves some 39,000 U.S. employers and over 7 million individual retirement plan participants and has approximately 450 financial professionals serving retail and workplace clients. The company was formerly known as ING U.S. and changed its name to Voya Financial in April 2014. Voya Financial was founded in 1975.

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Voya Financial (VOYA): Company Profile, Stock Price, News, Rankings

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Voya Financial

voya financial

Good morning. Welcome to Voya Financial Second Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. All participants will be in a listen-only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, you may press star then one on your touchtone phone. To withdraw your question, press star two. Participants are limited to one question and one follow-up. Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the call over to Mei Ni Chu, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Good morning. Thank you for joining our second quarter earnings conference call. We will begin with prepared remarks by Heather Lavallee, our Chief Executive Officer, and Michael Katz, our Chief Financial Officer. Following their prepared remarks, we will take your questions. Also joining the call are Jay Kaduson, CEO of Workplace Solutions, and Matt Toms, our CEO of Investment Management. As a reminder, materials for today's call are available on our website at investors.voya.com. As noted on slide two of our analyst presentation, some of the comments during today's discussion may contain forward-looking statements and refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures within the meaning of federal securities law. GAAP reconciliations are available in our press release and financial supplement found on our investor relations website. Now, I will turn the call over to Heather.

Thank you, Mei Ni Good morning. Thank you for joining us today. Let's turn to slide four. Our businesses performed well in the second quarter. Strong underlying results were affected by lower alternative investment performance and by severance costs we incurred to reduce our expense base. For the quarter, we delivered adjusted operating earnings of $1.51 per share, generated approximately $150 million of excess capital, and returned approximately $200 million to shareholders through repurchases and dividends. As Mike will cover in more detail, fundamental performance trends and the immediate payback from these expense actions gives us a clear line of sight to increase earnings and cash generation in the second half. Our performance this quarter highlighted continued execution of our strategic priorities. We delivered strong commercial results in Retirement and Investment Management.

We're stabilizing and growing margins in Employee Benefits. We are expanding wealth management capabilities to drive future revenue growth. Turning to our business results. In Retirement, we generated over $8 billion of defined contribution net inflows in the quarter, supported by continued high client retention and large plan implementations in government and corporate markets. In government markets, where Voya leads the industry, we've added more than $30 billion in assets and approximately one million participants in the past 18 months through organic growth. We're also driving strong full-service growth in key segments with emerging market sales up over 30% year-over-year. We completed the final phase of our OneAmerica integration during the quarter, marking the conclusion of a highly successful acquisition and integration effort that has significantly exceeded the financial goals we set.

We continue to build momentum in Wealth Management with year-over-year revenue growth of approximately 12%. Our Retirement franchise now exceeds 10 million participant accounts, and Wealth Management allows us to deepen those participant relationships and serve customers in a more comprehensive way. Our results this quarter demonstrate Voya's leadership position in the Retirement market. Our business is delivering consistent flows, high client retention, and significant growth in participant accounts. Our presence across markets and expansive distribution footprint provides a durable foundation for sustainable growth. As we further develop our Wealth Management capabilities, we are building a platform that can serve an expanding customer base with the solutions they need for a confident financial future. In Investment Management, we generated positive net flows for both the quarter and the year, supported by client demand across a broad range of investment strategies and distribution channels.

We expanded our product offerings during the quarter, including the launch of two multi-manager collective investment trusts that enhance the private and alternative asset solutions we bring to Retirement plan clients. Our investment performance remains a clear strength, with 83% of assets outperforming peers or benchmarks over three years and 85% outperforming over 10 years. The strong outcomes we deliver for clients are driving continued commercial success and strengthen the role Investment Management plays in Voya's broader Workplace and Wealth Management strategy. In Employee Benefits, we continue to improve and strengthen the business. In stop loss, we have stabilized loss ratios and margins across the entire book while maintaining the strength of our reserves. Early 2026 experience reinforces our confidence that the actions we've taken will continue to drive higher margins and restore the business to its historical earnings power.

Across the portfolio, disciplined pricing, underwriting, and risk selection are improving margins and allowing us to focus on business that meets our return expectations. I'll now turn it over to Mike to walk through the financials in more detail. Mike?

Thank you, Heather. Turning to slide six. In the quarter, adjusted operating earnings were $140 million, or $1.51 per diluted share. That result includes an approximate $0.90 per share impact from alternative investment performance below expectations, as well as severance actions. The alternative investment impact was driven primarily by macro market conditions affecting our private equity portfolio, which are reported on a one-quarter lag. Year-to-date returns remain positive, and we expect results to improve in the third quarter. On severance, we expect the resulting expense savings to fully offset the upfront costs by year-end. These actions improve efficiency, reduce ongoing expenses, and allow us to invest in long-term growth. While these items affected second quarter EPS, the underlying business trends remain strong. Continued commercial momentum in Retirement and Investment Management, along with improving margins and Employee Benefits, support our confidence in meaningfully higher earnings in the second half.

With that, let me turn to the segment results. Starting with Retirement on slide seven, adjusted operating earnings were $190 million in the quarter. Results were impacted by lower spread income, reflecting alternative investment performance below expectations. Excluding the alternative investment impact, core spread income remained resilient, supported by reinvestment at higher rates. On a trailing 12-month basis, adjusted operating earnings increased 6%. Fee-based revenue increased 10% year-over-year, now representing over 60% of revenue, and margins remained healthy at 38%. Defined contribution net flows were $8.1 billion in the quarter, supported by continued high client retention and large plan implementations in both government and corporate markets. Our platform now serves more than 10 million participant accounts, providing meaningful scale to drive future fee-based revenue growth. Stepping back, robust flows, high client retention, and growth in participant accounts reinforce the strength of our Retirement franchise.

Turning to Investment Management on slide eight. Adjusted operating earnings increased 12% year-over-year to $57 million, driven by higher advisory fees across institutional and retail channels. On a trailing 12-month basis, adjusted operating earnings increased 11%, reflecting both those higher advisory fees as well as disciplined expense management. Net inflows were $1.2 billion in the quarter and now $6.3 billion over the last 12 months. Looking ahead, we continue to see healthy client demand for our differentiated investment capabilities and robust investment performance. At the same time, the second half will include the wind down of a legacy relationship, which will modestly offset momentum in actively distributed products. Importantly, the revenue impacts from this are expected to be immaterial in 2026. Overall, Investment Management delivered solid earnings growth supported by positive flows, healthy client demand, and strong investment performance. Turning to Employee Benefits on slide nine.

Adjusted operating earnings were $22 million in the quarter and $122 million over the last 12 months. In the quarter, we released $8 million of reserves in stop loss while continuing to hold reserves at the high end of our best estimate range. Early claims experience on 2026 business is encouraging and is emerging favorably relative to both 2024 and 2025 business. We also continue to see favorable underwriting conditions as we complete the non-January 2026 selling season and begin pricing for January 2027. In Group Life, results continued to benefit from favorable mortality consistent with broader industry trends. This helped to offset higher voluntary loss ratios in the quarter, which were elevated in part due to non-recurring items.

For voluntary, while one-time items contributed to higher loss ratios in the quarter, the broader trend remains consistent with our expectations as expense actions are supporting our plan to maintain net margins. Stepping back, the underlying fundamentals across the portfolio remain strong, highlighted by the five-point improvement in aggregate loss ratios over the last 12 months. Our disciplined approach to risk selection, pricing, and expense management reinforces our ability to deliver further margin expansion and earnings growth in Employee Benefits. Turning to slide 10. We generated approximately $150 million of excess capital in the second quarter and $350 million year-to-date, with cash conversion above 100% in the quarter. We remain on track for 2026 cash generation to exceed 2025 levels, supported by strong cash conversion, the second half earnings outlook, and the expense actions we've discussed.

On capital deployment, we repurchased $150 million of shares in the second quarter and $300 million year to date. We ended the quarter with approximately $200 million of excess capital, preserving flexibility while continuing to return capital to shareholders. For the third quarter, we expect to deploy at least $100 million towards share repurchases, and the second half cash generation outlook gives us flexibility to deploy additional capital in the fourth. Return on equity was impacted by alternative investment and severance items, which is why we are explicitly calling them out rather than leaving investors to reconcile the effect on their own.

Stepping back, the second half outlook is supported by business momentum, expense discipline, and improving fundamentals. Most importantly, cash generation remains strong and we remain on track for 2026 to exceed 2025 levels. With that, I'll turn it back to Heather.

Let me close on slide 11, which brings together the key points from today's discussion. We're carrying strong commercial momentum into the second half, particularly in Retirement and Investment Management. We continue to improve margins in Employee Benefits, supported by the pricing and underwriting actions we've taken across the portfolio. The expense actions we took in the second quarter, alongside a more constructive macro environment, provide a tailwind for increased earnings in the second half. Our cash generation remains strong, with 2026 on track to exceed 2025 levels and conversion rates above our 90% target. We continue to be disciplined in deploying capital. We returned more than $380 million to shareholders in the first half of 2026.

We are maintaining our commitment to return capital to shareholders in the second half with our repurchase program active in the market and at least $100 million of buybacks planned for the third quarter. Together, these actions reinforce our confidence in our strategy and position Voya to deliver continued earnings growth, strong cash generation, and shareholder value. Before we go to questions, I want to thank our employees across Voya. Every day, they help our customers navigate some of life's most important financial decisions with greater confidence. Their focus and commitment continue to drive our success. With that, I'll turn it over to the operator so we can take your questions.

Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. To ask a question, you may press star then one on your touchtone phone. If you are using a speakerphone, please pick up the handset before pressing the star keys. To withdraw your question, please press star two. As a reminder, participants are limited to one question and one follow-up question. Our first question is from Ken Lee with RBC Capital. Please proceed.

Hey, good morning. Thanks for taking my question. Just one on the Investment Management side, the institutional net inflows in the quarter. Wonder if you could talk a little bit more about some of the drivers there and perhaps also any kind of color or composition of the pipeline. Thanks.

Good morning, Ken. Matt will take your question.

Happy to unpack that for you, Ken. Second quarter strong at $1.2 billion we're happy with. That's an annualized growth rate of about 1.6%. Importantly, within that, the revenue yield was up as well, and that's a counter-industry trend, and that's supporting the broader fee revenue growth, and it shows the quality of those flows. You referenced institutional specifically, that's $1.6 billion, providing the flows for the quarter. Would continue to call out the insurance strength we have that's backed by both our fixed income and our private credit capabilities that continue to resonate in the marketplace. That's both backward-looking and forward-looking to your question about the forward look. Overall, our demand for institutional retail products remains intact.

Look, we like the competitive position in those fixed income international markets, which we believe are poised for continued growth, and that's what drives that long-term expectation of 2%+.

Great. Very helpful there. One follow-up, if I may. Any color around what you're seeing in terms of planned RFP activity within the Retirement business there? Thanks.

Yeah, Ken, Jay will take your question. Thanks.

Hi, Ken. Yeah, if you think about RFP volumes themselves, they do differ across markets. If you think about our emerging market, you should think in terms of that mid-single digits, that 6% or 7% growth. Double-digit growth in mid-market, where we're seeing a lot of activity and finding a lot of success. In that large mega, it's been very consistent in prior years, low single-digit, very healthy. Overall, we're really pleased with the RFP volumes that are really helping us through our commercial momentum.

Yeah, I think the broader step back, Ken, is that we continue to be very pleased with the commercial momentum in Retirement and the overall performance in our largest and highest margin business.

Our next question is from Tom Gallagher with Evercore ISI. Please proceed.

Good morning. A few on stop loss. Heather, I know you mentioned the early 2026 experience gives you confidence that margins will improve in stop loss. Is 3Q at all a possibility to change your 87 loss pick for 2026, or is it more likely need to be more seasoned that we would have to expect that to come through and have enough evidence to wait until Q4?

Yeah. Good morning, Tom. I'll let Mike start on the question.

Hey, Tom. Yeah, look, I think it's remotely possible in the third quarter, but I would circle the fourth quarter as really the more likely opportunity for that. Why is that? We're a third complete coming out of the third quarter. We're two-thirds complete coming out of the fourth, and we just really have zero interest in trying to accelerate outcomes. That said, when we look at what we're seeing in the 2026 business so far, it's running meaningfully better than what we saw in both 2024 and 2025 coming out of August. Now, to get to completion here, we're about 15%-20% complete coming out of the second quarter.

We're still going to think about this at the high end of best estimate re-reserve ranges. I think we've been very consistent about that. What's important here is the work we did last year. When you look at the underwriting team that we put in place, the leadership we put in place, which has really been all about how we quote, how we review and select risk. The other thing is just our ability to get rate. We got 21% rate increase coming into 2025. We got 24% rate increase coming into 2026. Frankly, we're getting even more rate in what we're pricing in 2026. I think the step back here is we feel really good, but we don't want to accelerate any outcomes here, Tom.

Tom, it's Heather. If I can just add a little more explicit points on the 2026 book. Not only are we seeing better claims experience than the 2024 and 2025, again, it is early. We are also seeing a lower number of high-severity claims, and we are seeing a lower number of frequency. It is a combination of those, in addition to the pricing, the reserve level. That is just a little more color on the 2026 book.

That is really helpful color. Just to follow up and just if you do not mind bearing with me to follow my logic on this question. The interesting thing to me was the 2024 accident year, which I would have thought had no juice left in it at all, actually had favorable development of two points between mid-2025 to now. That seemed favorable. The 2025 accident year has only improved one point versus your reset 90% loss ratio versus Q4 2025. I guess my question is, I would have thought these would have all seasoned by now, but it is taking longer. Is there something about these claims pattern that are stretching out the development for longer? Is that actually a trend? What should we infer from that if that is in fact happening?

Tom, we will let Mike hit more of the technical aspects of the question. I will let Jay build a little bit more what he is seeing in the marketplace.

Tom, following the logic, I think what we talked about last quarter was there was a pending reserve cleanup that affected the reserve release in the first quarter. When you think about how much reserve release was happening from the 2025 book in Q1, it was about $7 million. The big balance of that was that pending reserve cleanup in 2024 and 2023. I think you are thinking about that right. I think we did see an acceleration of when claims were being reported. That is why we were careful at the end of last year. There is not a new normal where it is taking over two years for this to season. I think what we talked about with respect to 2025, I see that as 90%-95% complete at this point.

It's getting pretty firmed up, and we expect a similar pattern for the 2026 business. Jay?

Hi, Tom. I think if you take a step back and you think about since Q1 of 2025, we've made real substantive changes to the stop loss leadership team and really the operating model itself. We've got seasoned leaders in risk and pricing, underwriting, distribution, and they've been focused on advancing this risk and operating model improvement with a clear focus. We've been very consistent on this margin over growth, and we're seeing the early results come through in our 2026 book. We're pricing every piece of business to get back to our target loss ratios. Right now, the market demand is up over 13%, and quite frankly, the supply, Tom, isn't keeping up with the pace. More employers are looking for stop loss solutions.

With the market starting continuously hardening, we're confident in achieving the desired rate actions and importantly, the persistency targets that we've set for 2026. All this speaks to the strength right now of our clients and intermediary relationships, very active dialogue with them. We remain focused right now on that disciplined pricing and risk selection and underwriting as we look to grow the business.

Our next question is from Joel Hurwitz with Dowling. Please proceed.

Hey, good morning. Wanted to touch base first on the expense actions. How much of the improvement in expenses in your back half outlook is driven by those? Do you think those are sustainable as we move into 2027?

Good morning, Joel. Mike will take your question.

Hey, Joel. Yeah. As we were getting across in some of the prepared remarks that we do expect a six-month payback, and for this to drop to the bottom line. We talked about very early in the year that we, Heather, myself, the team, we're very much focused on self-funding growth investments, and so you're seeing these actions is why we had so much confidence around that. We do give a sense in the appendix of the materials on how to think about the split between Retirement and Employee Benefits. To your question around looking beyond this year, we view the actions that we took here as resetting the baseline heading into 2027. We're just entering in the planning season here as we think about everything that we want to accomplish in 2027 and beyond.

Really the mindset that Heather, myself, and the team has is operating leverage, full stop. It's also why we have so much confidence in the cash generation outlook. When we look at the actions this year, including severance, we still expect cash generation to increase, and we expect it to increase again next year. That's partly due to these actions on expenses, but also the commercial momentum that we've talked about as well as the margin expansion within Employee Benefits.

Got it. That's helpful. Just shifting to voluntary. Can you unpack the experience you saw in the quarter, just quantify the unusual items that you had, and I guess where do you expect the loss ratio to go from here on that business? Is it still low 50% or are we creeping more towards the mid-50s?

Yeah, Joel, we'll let Mike speak to the loss ratio. Jay can speak a little bit more to what we're seeing commercially in the market on voluntary.

Yeah, sure, Joel. Just first, there were a couple unusual items in the quarter. There were some billing true-ups that came out of the first quarter into the second quarter, so there's some normalization between those two quarters, as well as some reserve adjustments through legacy products that get reported in that line because we have voluntary disability and other all in the same line. If I cut through all of that to your question, I would think of those having about a two and a half point effect in the quarter, a more normalized number for voluntary in the 54% range, year to date, 53%. That's kind of what I would expect in the second half of the year. Remember, we're putting up IBNR with those loss ratios as well, and the fourth quarter's really important for voluntary.

We'll see how this ultimately shakes out, but I think that's a reasonable starting point. I think the broader message that, and we talked about this even earlier in the year and late last year, was that we did expect higher loss ratios because we're getting after customer value here with these products, but we expect to do that while maintaining very stable net margins. Again, I think this is a nod to the expense actions we took in the quarter.

Just to build, if you think about right now our position, Joel, as a top three voluntary provider, the strength sits in our distribution, really enhanced service model, which matters in the market right now, and our deep product expertise. The market demand is up year-over-year across all size segments for us. Sales are up 7% on a trailing 12-month basis. The commercial momentum results are there. In addition, our voluntary persistency over the last 12 months that we really focus on has been extremely solid. It's really a strong persistency business for us. The overall business fundamentals remain strong, and we really like our market position as we continue to grow the voluntary sales. Appreciate the question here.

Our next question is from Ryan Krueger with KBW. Please proceed.

Thanks. Good morning. One question on stop loss. Just when you put everything together on the trends that you're seeing, do you feel like you can get back to your target margins in that business in 2027 at this point?

Ryan, it's Heather. Maybe I'll start and then Mike can build. That's absolutely what our plan is. As you've heard us talk about all the pricing actions we've taken, the discipline around underwriting. When we're pricing business, we are pricing it to be within the target range in 2027. Certainly the ambition, early we like what we're seeing on 2026. We still have the reserve set at the high end of the range, that is absolutely our objective, Ryan.

Yeah. The only thing I would add, Heather, you step back and look at the big picture here, Ryan. When you look at late 2024, we came in to get as much rate as we possibly could. 2025, as Jay talked about, we put our teams in place. We were able to get more premium or get more rate and still hold premium flat. That's really that January 2026 business. What we're seeing in the middle of this year is getting even more rate, that's just, I think, a nod to the market coming to us. We've seen that margins are deteriorating in the industry. That's a calendar year 2025 to 2024 comparison, that's what's really allowing us to go get that rate. We got a lot of confidence in what we're seeing early as we head into the fall on price January 2027.

Every piece of business, to Heather's point, that we've been pricing this year, last year, was with the goal of getting this back to target margins.

Thanks. Then just a quick one on recordkeeping fees. They were flat sequentially despite the strong flows you had this quarter. I was just curious, is that more timing related on when the flows came in? As a result, should we see some tailwind there in the second half of the year?

Yeah. Thanks, Ryan. We'll let Mike start and Jay can add some color.

Yeah. You alluded to it, Ryan. It's just timing. When you look at kind of the timing of when flows came in and when flows came out in the first quarter. We expect really healthy fee-based margins in the second half of the year, and part of that is due to the organic commercial momentum in the second quarter. Obviously, we feel really good about the macro heading into third quarter from second quarter. Much different than what it was from second to first.

Yeah. Ryan, as we expected, and we kind of shared last quarter, we expected to have strong commercial momentum in Q2, and we did. We generated over $8 billion of total defined contribution net inflows. Given the visibility we have in the pipeline, we remain positive on the second half of 2026. While the flows do matter on this commercial momentum, and we're also focused on our continued revenue growth. If you look at a trailing 12-month revenue being up 10%, high 38% margin fee income is up 16%, as Mike referenced, and that fee income continues to be an important part of our growth story. It now represents, as you heard, 60% of our operating revenue. We also completed the final phase of the OneAmerica integration during the quarter.

Not only did that provide additional first service flows, but it enhanced our distribution scale and overall capabilities in certain product areas. As I think about our position as a top five defined contribution provider, if you look at it by participant accounts, we exceeded $10 million in Q2. That reflects the strength of the distribution as I referenced, our service model enhancements we've been making and overall the ability to deliver consistent growth in our largest business.

Our next question is from Yijia Chen with Morgan Stanley. Please proceed.

Hey, good morning. I just want to ask about the Retirement flows. If we look at the quarter, record-keeping flows are quite strong and full service flows are improving from one Q. Just curious, is that the OneAmerica integration still impacting the surrenders? Are you expecting the surrenders to trend down in the second half?

Yeah. Good morning. Thank you for the question. I'll let Jay add color. It's really two primary things. You are still seeing the effect of OneAmerica flows in the second half, which we expect to moderate. We do see the impact on higher participant account balances from equity markets. Jay, please add more color.

Yeah, that's right. If you think about the broader industry, there is this equity market effect of full service flows in Q2. Participant surrenders are really common in this high equity market environment. As you heard in Heather's opening, our full service sales in a really important market for us, emerging markets, is up 30%. That broader step back is pretty clear. This was another quarter, another example of delivering strong results, as I said, in our largest business. Again, that visibility into the pipeline, we do remain highly positive on the second half of the year. Just to answer your OneAmerica question, that integration's complete, right? We completed the final phase during the quarter. That transaction has really validated, I would say, is our discipline acquisition strategy, and it's establishing us really as a strategic acquirer in the Retirement space.

The benefits of that transaction continue to materialize. We've added new capabilities. As I referenced, broader distribution opportunities. Right now, incremental sales momentum we're getting from that acquisition, supported by strategic relationships. Those capabilities are in areas you think of like ESOP and self-directed accounts and tax-exempt capabilities. Really happy with both the talent we acquired, the financial results, and the new capabilities that are driving additional commercial momentum.

Okay, that sounds good. The second one, just want to follow up on the strong pipeline on the record keeping in the rest of the year. Just wondering if you have any update on the pipeline since 1Q. Yeah.

Yeah. I'll take it. Just really building on what Jay talked about is, we've got visibility into large plan implementations in the second half of the year. As we talked about on the first quarter call, we are confident in our ability to deliver positive flows. As Jay broadened the point, we think Retirement, our business, our margins have held up well. We're driving fee-based revenue. It's more than a flow story in Retirement. Our largest business continues to be our most profitable and is set up for us to be a strong leader in the Retirement market. All in all, a very strong outlook for the year.

Our next question is from Wes Carmichael with Wells Fargo. Please proceed.

Hey, good morning. Alts were a bit of a headwind in the quarter. It's kind of bounced around maybe the past few quarters, but just wondering if you have any color on how you're thinking about alts performance in the back half of this year.

Sure. Morning, Wes. Matt will take your question.

Yeah. Wes, let me unpack that a little bit for you. You're right, second quarter alternative income was a modest loss, 2.5% annualized. That's a weak result and compares unfavorably to the first quarter return, which was just over 8%, and our long-term expectation of 9%. Some context on that. Our alts portfolio, as you know, is focused on buyout private equity, and this quarter's result was impacted both by the consistently lower realizations within the industry that's been well-publicized, along with the volatility in broader equity markets in Q1, which informs the valuation period. That's coupled, of course, with the push higher interest rates. That's the valuation backdrop. Importantly, our diversified private equity holdings within this portfolio continue to be in harvest mode. We look to moderate the size of the portfolio and focus more on income-oriented and fee-generative opportunities going forward, and that's nothing new.

That's been a path over multiple years. Expect that to continue. Also importantly, looking forward, the strength of the broader market in 2Q and moving into 3Q does provide a favorable backdrop. We do think moving forward, Mike alluded this to in his remarks, that there's a scope for an improved result in the next quarter. Long term, not adjusting the 9% target. We well ought to achieve that over time. Obviously some volatility from quarter to quarter.

Thanks. That's helpful. Just wanted to come back to the broader discussion on expenses. I know you're always managing expenses, but if I think back, it sounded like coming into maybe 2025 and 2026, admin expenses were going to be a bit elevated with some investments into the business. With this announcement this quarter, it seems like there's real explicit actions for savings. Just wondering, has anything really changed, and what drove the decision on separate actions now?

Yeah. Wes, it's Heather. I'll start. Really this is just part of the discipline and DNA of us as a firm is always being focused on disciplined expense management. Here we took operating efficiencies across our business, specifically within Workplace. If you go back, Mike and I had been signaling earlier in the year of our plan to self-fund the growth investments. Think about us as really being very disciplined with not only capital, but our overall operating expenses. Within the organization, we've been focused on reallocating expenses into our higher growth areas, still managing our business to targeted unit cost levels and operating efficiency. That's just really how we operate. This is not part of any special program, but we think this is just part of how good management teams run companies.

Our next question is from Josh Shanker with Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Please proceed.

Yeah, thank you. Good morning, everybody. You talked about really seeing the fruits of going after price in the stop-loss market. Obviously Q2 is not that important a quarter for sales and benefits, all the lines of business tend to have weaker sales than a year ago. Price may be part of the reason. Maybe you're not as competitive as you were before. Can you go product by product and talk about what's happening in sales on the benefit side?

Yeah. Josh, I'll let Jay unpack that for you. If you think about when we've been talking about the margin improvement Employee Benefits, it's been beyond stop-loss. We've been focusing in on improving margins across every line of business within. Yet we still believe we're very well positioned for continued growth in this business. Jay, please.

Yeah, sure. I'll start here, Josh. As Mike referenced, look, start as a step back. The total aggregate loss ratio improved five points to 74% year-over-year. The team's really been focused around the execution on our pricing actions for the portfolio, and that's translated into that overall loss ratio improvement. I talked about voluntary, specifically sales being up 7% on a trailing 12-month basis, being a top-three provider there. Really happy with that business fundamentals, and the feedback we're getting in the marketplace, whether it be on a standalone basis or in a bundle, is really strong. In Group Life, historically, Q2 isn't a big sales quarter for Group Life, right? We manage that business on full-year results. With that said, in Group Life, sales are up 5% on a trailing 12-month basis.

When I look at Life and the broader Employee Benefits portfolio that you're referencing, our brokers and employers are starting to look for these bundle solutions, and our leave administration sits at the center of that bundle. Through Q2, 48% of all of our new Life and Absence and Disability cases were bundled with supplemental health. We're a market leader, and that's up from 42% last year. A little bit of a step back while our leave administration continues in Q2. It's in early days. This solution is helping to broaden if I think about our value proposition across the entire portfolio. As a reminder, we launched that integrated leave and disability claim solution in January of this year. You should think about it as bringing together an AI-enabled end-to-end workflow, which is something our customers were really looking for.

This simplifies the experience for our employees. Right now it's improving the compliance for our employers, which is really important. Overall, it strengthens our ability to bundle and retain clients, and I talked about the importance of bundles. Overall in the portfolio, I don't look at Q2 as a point in time. I look at full-year results, and I look at our trailing 12 months, and the business is growing.

Can we say that business that was a year ago written is renewing in a different quarter than Q2 today? The business that you wrote in Q2 last year doesn't meet your pricing appetite this year, which explains part of the reason for the decline?

Voya Financial (VOYA) Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

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