TIAA-CREF, the national financial services organization and leading provider of retirement services in the academic, medical and cultural fields, announced today the availability of its new service to help sponsors of 403(b) retirement plans prepare a written plan document required by new federal regulations governing the operation of their plans.
The new service, part of a suite of solutions to help plan sponsors fulfill their compliance obligations and manage their plans for the benefit of participants, will be available free of charge for TIAA-CREF institutional clients.
Under the final 403(b) regulations that take effect on January 1, 2009, all 403(b) plans are required to have a written plan that describes management of the plan, responsibilities of financial companies and other vendors who provide the plan investments, plan eligibility and benefits, limits on contributions and benefits, and annuity contracts and mutual funds the plan offers.
To deliver this plan document service to clients, TIAA-CREF has joined with Ascensus, a retirement products and solutions provider which helps retirement plan sponsors achieve and maintain operational compliance. Plan documents prepared jointly by TIAA-CREF and Ascensus will assure that plan sponsors have in place a plan document that fulfills regulatory requirements and incorporates TIAA-CREF annuity contracts and mutual funds into the plan.
"We are pleased to be able to offer our clients this plan document service, which is part of a series of solutions TIAA-CREF offers to help 403(b) plan sponsors fulfill their obligations," said Paul Van Heest, Senior Vice President of Institutional Product Management for TIAA-CREF.
The plan document service will help sponsors of all 403(b) plan types, including both annuity and custodial account-based plans. A plan that uses funding vehicles from other vendors will need the help of their attorney to add the features of those options to the documents.
Mr. Van Heest added: "TIAA-CREF's plan document service can help clients accommodate varied plan designs and features, as well as help to ensure that our clients' plans are not in conflict with the TIAA-CREF annuity contracts and mutual funds that serve as their funding vehicles."
TIAA-CREF has developed a suite of products to help clients fully prepare for, and implement, the new 403(b) requirements. In addition to providing customized webinars, client workshops led by specialized teams, and monthly e-newsletters, TIAA-CREF has developed a special section on its Administrator Web Center home page called "403(b) Outlook," where new articles on key issues are posted each week.
Plan administrators who wish to learn more about these resources can contact their TIAA-CREF Managing Consultant directly, or if you do not have a Managing Consultant and are served exclusively through the TIAA-CREF Administrator Telephone Center, please call them at 1 888 842-7782.
TIAA-CREF serves more than 15,000 retirement plan sponsors in the academic, research, medical and cultural fields.
About TIAA-CREF
TIAA-CREF (www.tiaa-cref.org) is a national financial services organization and a leading provider of retirement services in the academic, research, medical and cultural fields with $420 billion in combined assets under management. (3/31/08).
TIAA-CREF Individual & Institutional Services, LLC and Teachers Personal Investors Services, Inc., members FINRA, distribute securities products.
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