Short Takes: State Street Bulking Up In Retirement Services

To expand its retirement client services staff, State Street Global Advisors is planning to hire as many as 200 new people in its Minnesota outpost and has moved to bigger headquarters there.

After acquiring the defined-contribution-plan servicing center of Watson Wyatt Worldwide in Eden Prairie, Minn. in April, State Street decided to increase the staff there to 320 from 150 over the next 18 months. To accommodate the expansion, it relocated the call center to nearby Bloomington last weekend.

State Street Global Advisors, the asset management arm of Boston-based State Street Bank and Trust Co., employs a total of 1,000 people in its retirement services group, most of whom work in Massachusetts. They handle record keeping, plan administration, and communication services for the sponsors and participants of defined contribution plans managed by the unit of State Street Boston Corp.

Paul Parsons, State Street Global Advisors' managing director for retirement investment services, said the bank, already a leader in the 401(k) business, has been gaining new clients and taking on more business from existing ones.

"We have several new clients we haven't staffed for," Mr. Parsons said. "The move really positions us to be able to grow."

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