Nationwide Financial Gives 401(K) Sponsors Option to Offer Unrelated Funds

Nationwide Financial Gives 401(K) Sponsors Option to Offer Unrelated Funds

Columbus, Ohio (Aug. 6, 2003) – Nationwide Financial launched a new program Tuesday that allows 401(K) plan sponsors to offer funds outside of their designated investments free of charge.

The new “fund window” option also comes with Nationwide’s Financial Fund Evaluator, an online tool to that gives participants the ability to sort funds using criteria they establish with data from Morningstar and Nationwide.

"The fund window was created in response to participant requests for more choice in investment options," said Michael Butler, senior vice president of retirement plan sales for NFS Distributors, Inc., Nationwide Financial's distribution arm. "Now participants who want to be more involved can research and invest from a wide menu of options and enjoy the convenience of having all their plan information in one account, and reported on one consolidated statement without additional fees."

Typically, the plan sponsor selects a few dozen funds that participants can choose from for their deferred account investing. The new option gives participants access to Nationwide’s “Best of America Retirement Resource” menu of more than 600 mutual funds from 70 fund families.

-- WebCPA staff

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