Participant Bulletin Board
December 30, 2011
Year end capital gains - an important noteThe year end capital gain process is underway once again. Since participants often ask questions when they see share prices fluctuate associated with capital gain distributions, please see this memo for full details on the process.
November 17, 2011
New education tool: The Financial Resource Center
No matter where you are in life, the more you know about handling your finances, the better your chances of reaching your goals — whatever they may be. A new car…your first home…college for the kids…a fulfilling and financially secure retirement. The Financial Resource Center has the information and tools you need. To view this tool, please see the Education Section of the website (found in the Resource Center).
August 4, 2011
Expanded fund research library
BPAS is pleased to unveil a significant upgrade to the fund research library within our participant, plan sponsor and financial intermediary websites. Please see this announcement for full details.
June 6, 2011
Effective today, BPAS is pleased to launch a new education library for plans that include employee pre-tax contributions (401(k), 403(b), 1165(e), 457, etc). This new library includes three multimedia presentations delivered through Brainshark ™ . This includes a generic enrollment meeting presentation (Roadways to Retirement), a presentation for ongoing considerations ( “A Pause Along Your Journey”), and our quarterly market update. These presentations can be found in the first section of the Resource Center in the new participant and plan sponsor websites, and also at www.bpas.com/gt. Please look for additional education content posted to this site in the coming weeks.
April 27, 2011
New times for afternoon cutoff and website refresh
BPAS is pleased to announce that we have moved the time for our daily website refresh. Previously, our website refresh took place at approximately 5:00 AM EST; this process will now begin at approximately 1:00 AM EST. In addition, starting on April 27th, we will move our afternoon cutoff time from 3:45 PM EST to 4:00 PM EST (the time of market close). We hope these changes provide additional value to our plan sponsor and participant clients.
December 30, 2010
Year end capital gains - an important noteThe year end capital gain process is underway once again. Since participants often ask questions when they see share prices fluctuate associated with capital gain distributions, please see this memo for full details on the process.
July 16, 2010
BPAS announces major website upgradeFor more details regarding this announcement, please select the following link.
April 27, 2010
Change in the management of the SMART Funds®Hand Benefits & Trust Company is pleased to announce, effective May 1, 2010, a change in the management of the SMART Funds® series of collective investment funds. For more details regarding this announcement, please select the following link.
March 8, 2010
BPAS announces later cutoff timeThis product announcement provides details on our new cutoff time for web and voice response transactions, and coming enhancements regarding Straight-Through-Processing. To read the announcement, please click here.
November 9, 2009
Economic & Market Review presentation now available
As an additional resource to clients, BPAS is pleased to roll out the Economic & Market Review presentation within our plan sponsor and participant websites. Hosted by Lou Iovannone of BPAS Philadelphia, this presentation provides an update on recent economic trends and conditions in the investment markets. The presentation is deployed using streaming video technology provided by Brainshark™. We hope the presentation will be useful – providing additional perspective on the investment markets so participants can make informed investment decisions. To view the presentation, please select the following link - Economic & Market Review presentation. This link will also appear within the Education Tab of the plan sponsor and participant websites.
November 9, 2009
Federated announces revised date for fund reorganization
Federated has communicated a date change for the reorganization of the Federated International Equity Fund into the Federated International Leaders Fund. Please select the following link to read additional information including revised dates and trading parameters.
Important Fund Merger Information
Notice to participants: An unusually large number of fund mergers have been announced for Q3, 2009; BPAS will be processing these changes automatically in coordination with the mutual fund families. To see the full list of fund mergers, please select one of the following links. More information on the specific changes can be found at fund family websites. Please note, Franklin Templeton funds are undergoing a name change only.
A Guided Tour of the Participant Website
As an added resource to clients, BPA is pleased to roll out our Guided Tour of the Participant Website. A link to this page can be found at the login area of the participant website, or at http://www.bpas.com/GT. The page includes 12 short video clips covering the most commonly used features of the site – including viewing account balances, making investment changes, initiating loan and distribution paperwork, conducting research through the Market Dashboard and other topics. We hope the Guided Tour will be useful for new plan participants as they enroll in the plan and as a ‘refresher course’ for existing participants. Video clips are deployed through Camtasia™ and include both audio and video.
BPA Rolls Out Enhanced Login
BPA is pleased to roll out another website enhancement – our Enhanced Login feature. Please review the attached product announcement for details; this enhancement will become available in early May.
Reserve Solutions, Inc changes name to Access Control Advantage, Inc.
ReserveSolutions, Inc., the provider of the ReservePlus Loan Program , has changed its name to Access Control Advantage, Inc. (ACA) to more effectively identify their unique purpose. Similarly, the ReservePlus Loan Program name has changed to Access Control Advantage. They have upgraded their systems and made other important enhancements to their website, now available at www.ACAonline.com. Please select the following link for more information.
Janus Funds - Name Changes
Effective Friday, February 27, 2009 the Janus Fundamental Equity Fund and the INTECH Risk-Managed Stock Fund will be renamed. These are fund name renames only; both CUSIP and QUOTRON information will remain the same. To view additional details, please select the following link.
Goldman Sachs Structure Small Value – Reverse Share Split
Goldman Sachs recently initiated a reverse share split on the Structure Small Cap Value Fund. While the total dollar value of participant accounts was not impacted by the split, the fund’s net asset value and the total number of shares held would have been directly impacted by the 7 to 1 ratio involved in the split. Please see the attached memo from Goldman Sachs for full details on this process by selecting the following link. BPA has made the corresponding adjustments within our recordkeeping system.
BPA is pleased to announce some significant enhancements to our Fund Research page within the participant and plan sponsor websites. This component of our website is offered through Newkirk Fund Central™ -- licensed by BPA from Newkirk Products, Inc (NPI).
Following are some of the enhancements made to this page as of January, 2009 (per NPI):
To see the new information, please visit the participant website, select the “Fund Research” link within the Account Inquiry tab, then select the Web Link column for any fund in the table.
We hope you find these enhancements helpful as you continue to research funds and make investment decisions within your account.
Masterypoint on the Participant Website
BPAH is pleased to announce the rollout of Masterypoint – a comprehensive investment education and guidance suite within our participant website. Masterypoint serves as a replacement and upgrade of our previous education application, and is available to all plans and participants as of August 22, 2008.
To access Masterypoint, please visit the Education tab of the participant website and select the first link on the navigation bar. (The site can also be found within the education tab of the plan sponsor website). The site consists of several modules:
This website enhancement is provided to clients at no cost. We encourage participants to take full advantage of this new program to make the most out of their retirement journey
Year To Date Deposits by Source Report
This new report in the Account Inquiry tab of the participant website allows the participant to see the total deposits that have been made to their account on a year-to-date basis, broken down for the various money sources within the plan (employee pre-tax, Roth, rollover, company matching, profit sharing, etc) . The report includes the total amount contributed year-to-date for each source, as well as the amount of the last deposit for each source and the date it traded into the account. This information can be useful as part of your overall retirement planning efforts.
Year To Date Personalized Rate of Return
This new report in the Account Inquiry tab of the participant website allows the participant to visualize the year-to-date performance of their account, updated through the present day. While the personalized rate of return calculation included in quarterly statements is more precise (and there are several basis caveats to this report), the report makes it easy to assess your year-to-date investment results as part of an overall asset allocation strategy.
New Inception-To Date Statement Report Now Available
BPAH is pleased to announce a new report in the Account Inquiry tab of the participant website. The inception to date statement now comes in two formats – one showing results by investment and a second version illustrating results by source (or money type) within the plan. These reports allow you to visualize total activity within your account since it was first placed on the BPAH system. The Inception to Date Statement (by source) report allows you to see the total contributions made to your account from each source (employee pre-tax, Roth, rollover, employer matching, profit sharing, etc) as well as the total earnings that have accumulated in each source since inception. This can be a helpful way to visualize the overall progress being made within your account over time.
In addition, we have made some changes to make the Activity History report easier to use, and extended the date range for this report.
We hope these changes are helpful as you use the participant website.
New Loan Request Process
Effective June 17th, 2008, BPAH is pleased to announce a new feature to further automate the loan request process for plans that offer traditional loans. As before, participants will be able to perform loan availability and modeling within the participant website where the Plan permits. However, the loan paperwork will now be available directly in the participant website, where it can be printed, completed, signed and faxed back to BPAH for processing.
How it works:
The participant models a loan by going to the “Request Changes” tab and choosing “Loan Modeling” on the left navigational strip (no change).
The loan choices available in the plan will be displayed, including the ability to print the form, or have it mailed if a printer is not available to the participant.
Once the terms of the loan modeling are satisfactory, the participant may choose “Submit Loan Forms Request”.
The application and amortization schedule will be generated and posted to the “Mail Tab” of the website in a PDF file within minutes.
The entire application can then be printed, completed, signed, and faxed or mailed to BPA for processing.
Additional notes:
If participants do not have a printer available, they can access the website later from another computer that has a printer, and print the paperwork from the Mail Tab.
If participants do not have internet access, our current process will still apply: a participant would call the automated Voice Response Unit (VRU), or our CSR team to request loan paperwork and have it mailed to their home address.
If participants need assistance from HR to initiate a loan request, the same steps can be completed by HR through the plan sponsor website. (This will be particularly helpful in loan requests where a “time crunch” is involved).
For a sample of what the new dynamic forms package looks like, please click the following links: Sample Loan Application and Sample Amortization Schedule.
By making the loan paperwork available immediately and eliminating mailing time (potentially in two directions), this should reduce loan turnaround time significantly. We hope you find the new feature helpful. We look forward to expanding this functionality to other types of withdrawal requests in the future. Please continue to check the Participant and Plan Sponsor Bulletin Boards for announcements as additional product enhancements are made.
AIM Fund CUSIP Changes and Fund Name Changes.
AIM has announced cusip and fund name changes , that will take effect on April 30, 2008 and May 1, 2008 as outlined here. Select the links below for details.
If you have any questions, please contact Invesco Aim Dealer Services at 800-949-4246.
Dreyfus has made the following announcements regarding mergers of the below mentioned funds.
Effective April 25, 2008 the Dreyfus Premier Managed Income fund will merge into the Dreyfus Intermediate Term Income Fund. Upon the merger on April 25, 2008, the Intermediate Term Income Fund will change its name to Dreyfus Premier Intermediate Term Income Fund.
Also effective April 25, 2008, the Dreyfus Founders Balanced Fund will be merging into the Dreyfus LifeTime Growth and Income Fund.
Federated International Small Company Fund changes name
Effective March 31, 2008 the Federated International Small Company fund will undergo a name change to Federated International Small-Mid Company Fund. The ticker symbol for this fund (ISCAX, or as applicable to the share class) will remain the same. For additional information on this fund, please visit www.federatedinvestors.com.
Important notice: Excelsior Funds becoming Columbia Funds
During 2007, the Excelsior family of funds was acquired by Columbia Funds. As of 3/28/2008, the Excelsior Funds will undergo a name change from “Excelsior” to “Columbia”. Ticker symbols for these funds will remain the same, but fund CUSIPs are changing, and certain share class names will be modified as well. Of particular note in the BPAH platform is Excelsior Value & Restructuring (ticker symbol UMBIX). This fund will be renamed as the Columbia Value & Restructuring Fund, using the same ticker symbol. Note that the 60 day trading restriction that existed with UMBIX (and many other Excelsior Funds, with the exception of certain international funds) will be removed once this transfer is effective.
For additional information on this fund action, please visit http://www.columbiafunds.com/Excelsior.htm
This name change will not present any blackout period or other disruption for plan participants.