Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority added a mutual fund...

Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority added a mutual fund brokerage window to its $180.3 million 457 and 401(k) plans and reached a more favorable fee arrangement with its service provider and money manager, ICMA Retirement Trust, according to Edward Paull, MTA pension and benefits manager. The MTA is adding the brokerage window so that participants can access some mutual funds that were in the plan before MTA switched bundled providers three years ago. The change in fee arrangement was proposed by ICMA as a result of its registering 13 mutual funds — The Vantagepoint Mutual Funds — with the SEC. Since then, it has offered a fee deal to a handful of defined contribution pension plans — including the MTA — allowing the funds to pay a per-participant fee of about $18 for each account rather than a percentage of assets, said Robert Barkin, vice president of corporate communications.