Puget Sound Energy Inc., Bellevue, Wash., is considering a provider search for its 401(k) plan, said Ted Gates, compensation manager. Officials are doing an analysis of its $250 million plan, which was a result of the acquisition of Washington Natural Gas, Seattle.
Puget Sound Energy uses a bundled approach through T. Rowe Price. Washington Natural Gas used an unbundled approach with Howard Johnson as administrator.
A specific timetable for the search has yet to be determined. Mr. Gates stressed unsolicited calls are not welcome at this point. Plan changes should be finalized sometime in late 1998. R.V. Kuhns is the plan's consultant.
Frank Russell officials say the firm now has retainer advisory relationships with institutional clients and retirement plans whose assets represent more than $1 trillion.
Frank Russell has 190 consulting clients. Of this, 40% come from North America; 24% from Europe, Middle East and Africa; 31% from Australia, Japan and elsewhere in Asia; and 5% are global. By asset size, 45% are from Australia, Japan and elsewhere in Asia; 42% are from North America; and 13% from Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Russell's largest clients include: AT&T; General Motors; Canadian Airlines International Ltd.; Ontario Pension Board; Dai-ichi Mutual Fund Life Insurance Co.; Japan's Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications Postal Life Insurance Bureau; Civil Aviation Authority (Europe); IBM Europe; Lend Lease/MLC; and Australia's Transport Accident Commission.
Police and Firemen's Disability & Pension Fund of Ohio, Columbus, hired Standard & Poor's and The Plexus Group to help monitor managers. Standard & Poor's will review each U.S. equity and bond manager's compliance with the $7.2 billion fund's investment guidelines. Plexus will monitor trade execution. The fund hired the two firms in an effort to adhere to a new state mandate that calls for reducing liabilities. The monitoring had been handled mainly in-house.
