The $17 billon credit-focused firm Bayview Asset Management has jumped into the insurance asset management business with the addition of seasoned executives.
Nancy Mueller Handal, the former head of private fixed income and alternatives at MetLife, will lead the new division. Additionally, a former member of BlackRock’s insurance solutions team Alex Latella, has joined Bayview’s new insurance business as senior vice president responsible for business development.
Bayview said it will bring the skills and experience of its investment and operating teams that is made up of over 1,450 global employees across loan origination, underwriting servicing, accounting and analytics. The firm views the insurance industry expanding beyond its traditional focus on corporate credit.
“I feel privileged to have the opportunity to partner with Nancy, whom I have long admired as a leader in residential loan and structured products investing,” said David Ertel, CEO of Coral Gables, Fla.-based Bayview. “Nancy is one-of-a-kind executive, in the unique position of being one of the industry’s most thoughtful mortgage whole loan investors while having the insurance industry perspective of a senior executive.”
Bayview is a residential loan servicer with $620 billion of owned Mortgage Servicing Rights (MSRs), having purchased more than $163 billion of residential loans from over 1,000 counterparties and originated over $123 billion of residential loans since inception.
In addition, Bayview is a leading provider of credit protection to U.S. banks and GSEs on residential mortgages, having executed transactions representing over $400 billion of credit risk transfer.
“As MetLife’s Head of Alternatives, I invested across the Bayview platform as an LP and had the opportunity to directly observe and diligence Bayview’s highly differentiated sourcing and investing capabilities,” said Mueller Handal. “Over 30 years, Bayview has developed a platform that includes deep and broad mortgage industry relationships, advanced analytical capabilities, comprehensive loan accounting expertise and an unparalleled risk management framework. There is a clear demand from insurance companies for a broader, diversifying set of investment opportunities and I am excited to work with my new colleagues at Bayview to further develop industry-leading solutions.”
Mueller Handal and MetLife managed a 150-person team overseeing approximately $150 billion of investments. In 2012, she launched MetLife’s Residential Whole Loan Investment platform, and helped source more than $40 billion of residential mortgages, including over $11 billion from Bayview. She also created and implemented a Private Structured Products investment platform within MetLife in 2019, sourcing and investing on behalf of both affiliated and unaffiliated clients.
