BankAmerica Corp. will concentrate on daily record keeping within its bundled defined contribution plan service program, 401(k) Daily Advantage, and move all other record-keeping arrangements to an outside administrator.
BankAmerica, San Francisco, introduced its 401(k) plan service about a year ago for clients using any type of plan valuation schedule (monthly, quarterly or daily), but has decided to provide internal record keeping services only to smaller plans using a bundled service, with daily valuation and BankAmerica investment options.
BankAmerica's internally managed investment lineup includes 15 mutual funds from the Pacific Horizon family and 15 collective trusts.
For defined contribution plans with more than 1,000 participants, which are not valued daily, or which incorporate investment options from outside managers, BankAmerica will outsource record keeping to Coopers & Lybrand, New York. Coopers & Lybrand's human resources advisory group also will provide consulting services to plan sponsors.
Lauren Upson, vice president and regional manager at BankAmerica, said the alliance with Coopers & Lybrand allows the bank to concentrate on providing bundled plan service to smaller clients.
"We are changing direction a little, but when plans are very big or have a series of investment options from a number of different money managers, the back office administration can get very complicated. We have streamlined our systems connections with Coopers and can provide smaller clients with smoother service this way." BankAmerica is exploring record-keeping alliances with other third-party administrators, said Mr. Upson.