Metlife Exits TPA RecordKeeping Role

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thurs. April 8, 2001

  Institutional Investor Online

Metropolitan Life Insurance has notified its plan sponsor clients that it will no longer be providing third-party recordkeeping administration. Deana Reed Hannah, director of deferred compensation at the State of Tennessee Treasury Department, said that the firm notified the state's $450 million 401(k) plan in February, adding that MetLife would be responsible for outsourcing the plan's administration due to the short notice given. She said the firm would still provide recordkeeping services to those plans for which it serves as a bundled provider. A MetLife spokeswoman denied the outsourcing claim, however. "It is very well known that we offer an open-architecture investment platform," she said. "We have not changed our product offering."

Last summer, industry executives familiar with the matter reported that the New York insurance and financial services behemoth was investigating the possibility of outsourcing recordkeeping for its corporate 401(k), 403(b) and public plan clients (DCN, 7/31).

To view the complete press release, visit www.iimagazine.com/channel/definedcontributions/20010409000273.htm