The 401k Round Up is a weekly column aimed at keeping mutual fund industry insiders updated on what's happening in the 401(k) industry. Below are quick takes on stories that originally appeared on The MFWire's sister publication, The 401kWire.

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The chief of Bank of America Merrill Lynch's retirement unit is about to overhaul one of Merrill's popular defined contribution platforms. Speaking Wednesday at The 401kWire's second annual DC Influencers' Summit at the Battery Park Ritz Carlton in New York City, Andy Sieg revealed that he plans to relaunch the MLConnect program this quarter. MLConnect features various third-party retirement plan providers, including ones with asset management arms like Hartford, John Hancock, OppenheimerFunds and Transamerica.

"There are aspects that are dated and there's a need to inject a new impetus and energy into the program," said Sieg, head of retirement and philanthropic services.

Meanwhile, earlier this week The 401kWire reported that a top BofA Merrill retirement exec under Sieg is heading to T. Rowe Price to lead marketing for the Baltimore-based asset manager's retirement business.

And fixed income titan Pimco is pushing open architecture (i.e. multi-manager) target date funds, leading the charge against the handful of asset manager/recordkeeper combinations who have dominated the target date business so far. On Tuesday Pimco's Stacy Schaus unveiled a new book on the subject, complete with a forward from Pimco legend Bill Gross. 

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