NEW YORK - Mutual fund company, Oppenheimer Management Corp., is promoting a retirement plan to the small-business clients of banks.
The company, a leading seller of mutual funds to banks, has introduced a new 401(k) plan aimed at small businesses with 25 to 200 employees.
Maryann Bruce, senior vice president and director of the financial institution division, said she is promoting the service to about 100 bank clients.
Oppenheimer's new plan offers more than 20 stock and bond funds with various share classes. The company's parent, Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co., Boston, is performing the record-keeping and administration duties.
Many mutual fund companies and banks are providing 401(k) plans to large and midsize businesses, but there is still room in the small-business market for a fund company to establish itself, Ms. Bruce said.
Most mutual fund companies and banks charge per employee, in addition to an installation fee, so large companies are more appealing. Many banks that offer their own 401(k) plans don't want to take on the record-keeping and administrative hassles for less profits to be made at small companies.
But banks still want to serve their small-business clients who deposit their payrolls at banks and get loans from them. "Bank brokers can use the 401(k) as a tool to develop the relationship a bank has with its small- business customers," she said.
- Compiled by Howard Kapiloff
