University of Notre Dame 403(b) Retirement Plan, South Bend, Ind., hired Fidelity Investments as sole record keeper for the $1.06 billion plan, effective Jan. 1, 2015.
Current record keepers for the plan are Vanguard Group, TIAA-CREF and Fidelity.
The change to a single record keeper was made to lower fees and make it easier for the plan's investment committee to monitor whether participants “are actually on track to have a secure retirement,” said Robert McQuade, university vice president for human resources, in an e-mail. “When participants can invest across several record keepers, this becomes very difficult.”
The committee also wanted to make enrollment less confusing for participants, making it “more likely that they will be engaged in making decisions about their retirement,” Mr. McQuade said.
The plan will have 24 investment options, including 12 Vanguard target-date funds, and a Roth 403(b) feature. That's far fewer than the current menu of 306 funds, “which in the investment committee's thinking was more choice than necessary to create a solid investment portfolio,” Mr. McQuade said.
Consultant Hewitt EnnisKnupp assisted.
