Mercer to Provide Services to Existing Mercer/Putnam Taft-Hartley Clients

A news release said Putnam, meanwhile, will focus exclusively on the investment management component of these plans. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. The pact is effective July 1, 2009.

In addition to continuing to provide all recordkeeping and administration services including call center support and technology for these clients, under the new agreement, Mercer will assume responsibility for overall relationship management and sales support, as well as member communication and education programs, the announcement said.

Putnam will continue to make its investment products and services available to existing and prospective Taft-Hartley clients. Mercer will now pursue new Taft-Hartley administration opportunities under the Mercer brand.

Bringing more than 40 years of collective Taft-Hartley experience, Patrick White, John Hume, and Arthur Georgantas, will join Mercer from Putnam as relationship managers, according to the announcement. Also joining Mercer’s Taft-Hartley Relationship Management team is Ken Sullivan, who brings 11 years of defined contribution experience to his position, including nine years with Putnam Investments.

Mercer provides defined contribution administration services to 61 union groups, representing 309,000 members with over $7.8 billion in assets. Putnam has $3.5 billion of Taft-Hartley retirement assets under management as of May 31, 2009, according to the announcement.