The Winterthur Insurance Group will merge the pension and 401(k) plans of U.S. subsidiaries General Casualty Insurance Cos., Unigard Insurance Group and Southern Guaranty Insurance Co., said Jennifer Tratnyek, organizational strategy analyst at General Casualty, Sun Prairie, Wis. The combined pension plan will have about $145 million in assets and the new 401(k) plan will have about $143 million.
The combined 401(k) initially will offer all of the options from the three separate plans, Ms. Tratnyek said. Plan officials will review the options in April and eliminate any overlap, she said. CIGNA, which is assisting with the transition, will be the bundled provider of both the pension and 401(k) plans. The firm has been the provider of all six plans since 1999, she said.
Officials decided to merge the plans to provide consistent benefits for all employees of Winterthur's U.S. subsidiaries as well as seek to lower vendor costs, Ms. Tratnyek said. The change will take effect Jan. 1.
