Citigroup Acquires Stock Benefit Provider AST StockPlan

August 16, 2000 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Citigroup has acquired AST StockPlan Inc., a provider of stock benefit plan services.

The acquisition positions Citigroup to take advantage of an expanding market for equity-based compensation programs, including stock options and employee stock purchase plans.
 
AST StockPlan was founded in 1991 and currently serves some 545 corporate clients, covering more than 645,000 participants, with a particular focus on high tech companies.

AST StockPlan will remain a separate entity servicing its current clients, though it will work with Salomon Smith Barney’s Stock Plan Services group to leverage their respective systems. 

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SSB has more than 500 clients, including 11 of the Fortune 25, with over 2 million participants.

The transaction is expected to close at the end of August.

– Nevin Adams       editors@plansponsor.com

GE Launches Online Brokerage to Employees

April 6, 2001 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - General Electric employees have begun making trades on an online brokerage service, courtesy of their employer.

Although the service is available to anyone with $1,000 to open a cash account or the $5,000 needed for a margin account, the company is not marketing the product externally.

The service would allow customers to trade stocks and bonds and buy mutual funds with money they have invested in their GE Funds IRAs. Customers pay$20 for each order up to 5,000 shares and an additional 2 cents a share after that.

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The service also offers:

  • financial planning and investment courses
  • news and research
  • interactive charts
  • mutual fund screening tools
  • real time quotes
  • e-mail alerts

GE Asset Management Services started the brokerage in a bid to retain IRAs that employees and retirees might otherwise transfer to competitors who offer individual trades.

Although the company is not offering its employees the ability to trade with their 401k balances, it plans to offer that capability for companies for which it provides 401k plans, including Hilton Hotels and London Fog Industries Inc.

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