Wachovia Picks Up BoNY's DC Recordkeeping, Trustee Offerings

In a news release, the bank said t he Employee Investment Plans Division of the Bank of New York already uses Wachovia’s WySTAR recordkeeping platform, which means there won’t be a required platform change. 

In December 2002, the Bank of New York announced that it was bringing in PFPC to handle the technology end of its recordkeeping, including loading payroll tapes and recordkeeping software out of PFPC’s Bloomington, Minnesota facility. However BONY staff out of its Purchase, New York facility continued to manage the recordkeeping process (see  BoNY Goes After Large RK Clients With New Tech Platform ).  BONY was one of about a half dozen institutions that used the recordkeeping platform, which  Wachovia acquired source code rights to along with its acquisition of the retirement plan recordkeeping and third-party servicing business of PFPC Inc. last year (see  Wachovia Brings PFPC Recordkeeping and TPA Business On Board ).   

The financial details of the BONY transaction, which was completed on December 31, 2003, were not disclosed in Wednesday’s announcement.

Plan sponsors and plan participants should benefit from Wachovia’s investment in the Internet, VRU, Cash Management and Call Center systems, the bank said.   In addition to the increased automation, plan sponsors will also have access to a broad array of investments and educational programs.

Wachovia will now service morethan 4,400 retirement plans with 1.3 million plan participants and pensioners, encompassing nearly $62 billion in assets under administration, according to the announcement.  The Bank of New York acquisition contributed about 120 to 130 plans, 60,000 participants and $2 billion in assets to those totals, according to Dow Jones.