Smith Barney is cutting to about 60 the number of third-party...

Smith Barney is cutting to about 60 the number of third-party administrators it recommends to employer-directed retirement plans, said John DelVecchio, senior vice president and director of qualified plans. Its old list had about 120 TPAs on it. Better monitoring and cleaner electronic transmission capabilities will be among the more stringent criteria, he said. Firms also will be geographically diverse and will not be in the investment management business in competition with Smith Barney, he said.