When
Steven Spiegel was named head of global distribution -- a new position -- at
Putnam Investments this past May, he began to look for ways that the firm could better serve its clients. At the time, the firm had four distribution groups: retail, international, defined contribution, and institutional (which served the defined benefit market). Now, Putnam will be rolling its defined contribution and defined benefit efforts together, a spokesperson with the firm told the MutualFundWire.com
"We wanted to deliver better services to our clients," the official reported, "One of the trends we saw in the retirement business was how closely defined contribution and defined benefit are related. So we created a business that would provide services for both."
"We have a number of clients that utilize both of these services. Now, the clients have the benefit of having more resources focused on them. The work we have done on the DB side can now be made available to the DC side," she contended.
The new unit will be under the direction of
John Brown. He is currently in charge of Institutional Retirement Services, which is the DB arm.
No formal name for the new unit has yet been selected. Executives are also reviewing website presentation and the look-and-feel of other communications materials. The spokesperson added that this transitional period is expected to last until the end of March 2002. "It is important that the clients do not experience changes," the official concluded. 
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