Tucson (Ariz.) Deferred Compensation Board will overhaul the investment options lineup for the city's 457 and 401(a) plans as part of the transition to Empower Retirement as its new record keeper, said Art Cuaron, the city's pension and benefits administrator, in an email.
The board had issued an RFP in August for a record keeper, and hired Empower earlier this year to replace incumbent ICMA-RC. The change is effective June 2, and the changes to the investment options are part of an effort to streamline offerings, according to a notice on the plans' website. Participants in the old funds will be automatically mapped to the new funds, the notice said.
Most of the changes involved eliminating redundant funds within certain asset classes and keeping one existing fund in the lineup. The following are entirely new fund offerings:
The plans are adding a target-date fund lineup managed by Capital Group to replace ICMA-RC's Vantagepoint lineup, and adding an active international equity option managed by Fidelity Investments to replace similar funds managed by Invesco and Vantagepoint. Entirely new to the lineup are an active international equity option managed by Causeway Capital Management, a stable value fund managed by Putnam Investments and a passive international equity option managed by Vanguard Group.
The lineup, previously consisting of 29 investment options, will now consist of 20 investment options, plus the target-date fund lineup.
As of June 30, the 457 and 401(a) plans had a combined $286 million in assets, the most recent data available.
Investment consultant Innovest Portfolio Solutions assisted.
