ING U.S Turns To Profit In Q4 - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - ING U.S. Inc. (VOYA), which will rebrand as Voya Financial Inc. in 2014, reported that its fourth quarter of 2013 net income available to common shareholders of $548 million or $2.08 per share, compared with a loss of $23 million, or $0.10 per share in the fourth-quarter of 2012.

The latest-quarter results included actuarial gains on pension and postretirement benefits, after-tax, of $263 million primarily due to rising interest rates and strong performance of assets in the pension plan; and The Closed Block Variable Annuity or CBVA segment's after-tax loss of $147 million, which was driven by an after-tax loss of $177 million related to nonperformance risk.

The CBVA segment included the effect of its hedge program, which focuses on protecting regulatory and rating agency capital from market movements, rather than minimizing GAAP earnings volatility.

Fourth quarter 2013 after-tax operating earnings of $198 million, or $0.75 per share, up from $136 million, or $0.59 per share last year.

On average, 16 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.69 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Ongoing Business adjusted operating earnings before income taxes were $324 million, compared with $278 million in the prior year quarter.

During the fourth quarter, total assets under management and administration grew to $511 billion, driven in part by positive net flows in our Retirement and Investment Management businesses.