The Markets March 17, 2009

Ariz. Hospital Cuts 403(b) Match

Casa Grande Regional Medical Center in Arizona has halted matching contributions to employees’ 403(b) plan.
Reported by

The Casa Grande Dispatch reported that the hospital has also suspended merit pay increases and tuition reimbursement for employees, effective March 1. Employees also will not be paid for unused paid time off, the newspaper said.

Hospital officials said 17 positions have been cut through layoffs and another seven jobs open through attrition will not be filled.

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Kai Gerkey, vice president of business development at the hospital, explained that the changes were made because patient volumes have been down.

Deals & People March 17, 2009

Wells Taps WySTAR, OmniDBEN as RK Platforms

Wells Fargo has selected WySTAR to be the defined contribution recordkeeping system and OmniDBEN as the defined benefit administration system for its institutional clients.
Reported by

A Wells Fargo news release said migration to these systems is expected to be complete in the second half of 2010.

“The Wells Fargo Institutional Retirement business has a tremendous opportunity. We are a much bigger than either legacy firm was six months ago, and our size affords us the opportunity to invest and enhance our systems at a time when most of our competitors are cutting back,” said Joe Ready, director of Wells Fargo Institutional Retirement.

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Wells acquired Wachovia last year (see “Wachovia Leaves Citigroup at the Altar’). According to the announcement, the combined Wells Fargo/Wachovia retirement business serves more than 3.7 million participants and more than 10,000 clients.

Wachovia officials have said in recent years that their acquisition strategy centered around marketing of WySTAR and its goal to add two to three significant outsourcing relationships to the system per year (see “Wachovia: BoNY RK Acquisition Part of Long-Term Strategy’).

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