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Nancy Mueller Handal, Chief Investment Officer, Bayview Insurance Asset Management
Bayview Asset Management has announced the launch of an insurance asset management business, bringing 30 years of investing in mortgage and consumer credit to the new entity, Bayview Insurance Asset Management.
The new division will be led by Chief Investment Officer Nancy Mueller Handal, who previously served as the Head of Private Fixed Income and Alternatives at MetLife. Under Mueller Handal’s leadership, Bayview will bring the skills and experience of its investment and operating teams, made up of more than 1,450 global employees across loan origination, underwriting, servicing, accounting, and analytics, to an insurance industry that is increasingly looking to diversify and expand beyond its traditional focus on corporate credit.
Also joining the Insurance Asset Management division will be Alex Latella as SVP of Business Development. Formerly a member of the Insurance Solutions team at Blackrock, Latella brings nearly 20 years of industry experience to the role, including time spent with Goldman Sachs as VP, Portfolio Manager.
“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 Bayview. “Nancy is a 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. She is perfectly positioned to lead this natural extension of the Bayview business.”
Bayview is positioned to launch this new business as a leading residential loan servicer, with $620 billion of owned mortgage servicing rights (MSRs), having purchased more than $163 billion of residential loans from more than 1,000 counterparties, and originated over $123 billion of residential loans since inception.
In addition, Bayview is a provider of credit protection to U.S. banks and GSEs on residential mortgages, having executed transactions representing over $400 billion of credit risk transfer.
“I partnered with Bayview while building MetLife’s industry-leading residential whole loan investment platform and I am thrilled to now be a part of the Bayview organization to bring its unique capabilities to the rest of the insurance industry,” said Mueller Handal. “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. 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.”
In her previous role at MetLife, Mueller Handal managed a 150-member team overseeing approximately $150 billion in investments. In 2012, she launched MetLife’s Residential Whole Loan Investment platform, and helped source more than $40 billion of residential mortgages, including $11 billion-plus 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. Mueller Handal is a CFA charter holder, a former member of the Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee and currently serves as the Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of the Structured Finance Association.
