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Deals and People February 19, 2001
Barclays Expanding Online DC Operations
February 19, 2001 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - In an effort
to boost their defined contribution presence online, Barclays
Global Investors, the nation's fourth largest defined
contribution provider, has hired Sean Callinan to start a new
online business unit.
Reported by Charles Epstein
Callinan comes from BenefitStreet.com, an online administrator and distributor of benefit programs, where he served as interim chief executive officer and chief operating officer.
Barclays said it is moving away from providing bundled solutions so it will be “totally focused” on the investment management component and providing “best of class” investment products, according to Tom Taggart, a spokesman for Barclays. The firm is the world’s largest index fund manager.
“We could approach the area Sean is trying to build as a way to provide a good education site around investing and then make it available to plan participants,” Taggart told PLANSPONSOR.com. “We may also seek other distribution points for products,” such as Barclay’s LifePath product, a diminishing horizon fund.
The LifePath product has been very successful, Taggart said, since participants only have to make a single decision, their time to retirement, in order to select a portfolio. Each portfolio auto-rebalances as retirement approaches, and contains up to 17 asset classes.
The new online business area Callinan will be developing will include additional distribution and educational channels for LifePath participants, he added.