The Hartford launches three mutual funds

The Hartford Mutual Funds, where assets have more than quadrupled since 2000, added three funds last week, including two requested specifically by financial advisers. The new offerings — a fund of funds, a high-yield-municipal-bond fund and a strategic-income fund — bring the total number of The Hartford’s funds to 54, said Jim Tracy, the fund group’s national sales director. That number is up from 16 funds at the end of 2000, the year he joined The Hartford (Conn.) Financial Services Group Inc., an insurer and the fund unit’s parent company. “We [needed] a broader array of product so that [a financial adviser] could build a portfolio for virtually any client using The Hartford mutual funds,” Mr. Tracy said. The Hartford has been able to grow quickly, in part because of its relationship with Boston-based Wellington Management Co. LLP, which subadvises its equity funds, said Todd Trubey, a senior fund analyst at Chicago-based Morningstar Inc. “They are pretty darn big for being pretty new to the game,” he said. “Their notion to introduce a line of mutual funds came from their success in variable annuities.” For the full report, see the upcoming June 4 issue of InvestmentNews.