Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, Washington, rehired BlackRock as the first of two managers that will each oversee a portion of each of the board's four index funds.
The $631.4 billion Thrift Savings Plan, the retirement system for 5.8 million federal employees and members of the uniformed services, offers participants five investment funds: four index funds currently managed solely by BlackRock and one fund made up of specially issued Treasury securities that is managed internally by the board.
The board issued an RFP in May seeking two investment managers in order to mitigate risk, said Kim Weaver, director of external affairs, at the time. It will select a second manager at a later time, though Ms. Weaver said in an email Monday that there's no timeline.
After the second manager is selected, a change will be made to the TSP's I Fund — one of the index funds that invests in international equities — to incorporate emerging markets. After looking at making the change to its investment lineup in 2014, the board now feels there's sufficient liquidity in emerging markets to move forward, Ms. Weaver said last year.
The board is now working on an I Fund transition plan, Ms. Weaver said Monday.
