With its sights on advisers, USAA hires ex-Hartford Funds boss

USAA Investment Management Company has hired Keith Sloane, former head of the Hartford mutual funds, as head of third-party distribution. It is a newly created role to help USAA expand its presence with advisers and third-party platforms, the company said in a release. USAA mutual funds are currently available on the Fidelity, Vanguard, TD Ameritrade, Pershing and E*Trade platforms. USAA's mutual funds have approximately $52 billion in assets. Mr. Sloane served as the head of the Hartford Financial Group's mutual fund business from 2007 to 2010. Last month, the Hartford announced that it will no longer offer annuities and that it will sell off its life insurance operations and Woodbury Financial Services Inc., its independent-contractor broker-dealer. Company management stated it wanted to focus on more profitable products, including mutual funds. Toward that, the company plans to add about 50 salespeople to its 100-person mutual fund sales force in the next few months.