Over a continental breakfast yesterday, BlackRock's [profile] defined contribution investment-only (DC I-O) head honcho Chip Castille spoke to reporters about CoRI, the company's newest effort in the retirement space.

CoRI is a suite of financial indexes designed to help plan participants, sponsors, and advisors calculate and benchmark their retirement income earnings. It is marketed as the gear that "takes the guesswork" out of retirement planning, by letting investors and advisors calculate how much estimated annual income one's savings will provide throughout retirement, and know the level of savings needed to provide for a cozy retirement. The indexes are designed specifically for workers ages 55 to 64 who are starting to panic about looming retirement, and want to get on the right track right away.

More information about the products can be found here.

The event was held in the firm's Park Avenue Plaza building, across the street from its NYC headquarters. A number of BlackRock's top brass lined up to show support for the product.

For example, joining Castille in speaking were: Matthew O'Hara, head of research and product development for BlackRock's US & Canada DC group; Jack VanDerhei, research director for the Employee Benefits Research Institute (EBRI); Chuck Williams, managing director with retirement plan advisory shop Sheridan Road; and the man himself, Robert S. Kapito, president, director, and co-founder of BlackRock.

What was most interesting about today's unveiling was not so much the brand new products, but Castille's new role heading the just-created subsidiary: BlackRock Index Services, which is the team behind CoRI.

Castille also still serves as head of BlackRock's U.S. and Canada DC Group.

The Index Services unit at BlackRock hopes to license CoRI to asset managers, and it seems that is where much of the profit lies. Castille confirmed that he is in talks with other asset managers regarding the product.

Tommy Fernandez contributed to this article. 

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