Products November 9, 2006

WisdomTree Asks SEC Approval for 31 ETFs

November 9, 2006 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - WisdomTree Investments, Inc. announced Thursday that it has asked for Securities and Exchange Commission approval to register 31 new exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
Reported by

According to a news release, the WisdomTree Indexes anchor the initial weights of individual stocks to a measure of fundamental value, rather than using capitalization-weighted indexes.

The Delaware company already has 30 fundamentally-weighted ETFs listed on the New York Stock Exchange, 10 of which it added in early October and are strictly international, according to a  previous news release .   

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For more information on the new ETFs visit  http://www.wisdomtree.com/etfs/ .

 

Benefits November 8, 2006

MeadWestvaco Adds Cash Balance to DB Offering

November 8, 2006 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - MeadWestvaco Corporation has announced it is changing its US defined benefit pension plan covering salaried and non-union hourly employees, adding a cash balance formula.
Reported by

According to the October 30 announcement, under the new cash balance formula, eligible employees will receive an annual contribution from the company at a specific percentage of eligible pay based on an employee’s combined age and years of service that grows at a guaranteed rate of interest until retirement or termination of employment.

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Effective January 1, 2007, all new employees will accrue benefits under the cash balance formula. Current employees will transition to the new cash balance formula on January 1, 2008, and those age 40 and over will have the option to remain in the current pension formula or transition to the new formula, the announcement said. The changes do not affect MeadWestvaco’s current US retirees, former employees with vested benefits or employees who retire prior to December 31, 2007.

The company said the changes are being made to provide employees with a more portable and flexible retirement plan and create a program with more stable and predictable growth.

According to Business Insurance, MeadWestvaco is the first major company to implement a cash balance arrangement since the Pension Protection Act was passed – providing protection for cash balance plans from age discrimination lawsuits (See Cover: The Pension Protection Act: This Changes Everything ).

A 7 th US Circuit Court of Appeals decision last August overturning a decision that IBM’s cash balance plan was age discriminatory was also consider to be a boost for cash balance programs (See Appellate Cash Balance Ruling Applauded for being Succinct, Clear ).

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