The 800-pound advisor-sold mutual fund gorilla, Capital Group's American Funds, is making a new push in the 401(k) space. American Funds' DC offerings, like its retail ones, are basically purely advisor-distributed, which in the 401(k) space has weighted them towards smaller plans, a strategy that pushed its DC assets to $140 billion as of December 31. Yet last month Kevin Clifford, president of American Funds Distributors, told Bloomberg that the provider "is starting to market its funds to corporate 401(k) retirement plans that hold more than $250 million," a space where few advisors roam. (See The 401kWire, 2/18/2010.)

Also last month another fund firm, Goldman Sachs Asset Management, hired a new chief for its large plan DC I-O efforts. Bill McDermott, a Fidelity alum who most recently served as executive vice president of corporate markets at Axa, joined Goldman as head of the institutional defined contribution business, reporting to Jim McNamara. A spokesman for Goldman confirmed that the appointment did not affect Scott Kilgallen, who continues to lead Goldman's third-party (i.e. advisor-sold) DC I-O team. (See The 401kWire, 2/3/2010.)

As McDermott left for Goldman Sachs, Axa consolidated its retirement business into a single unit, retirement savings, reporting to Axa Distributors and Axa Global Distributors chief Jamie Shepherdson. (McDermott's large market retirement plan business now reports directly to Shepherdson.) (See The 401kWire, 2/3/2010.) 

Correction: A prior version of this story misidentified Jamie Shepherdon's roles at Axa. His correct position is head of retirement savings, Axa Distributors and Axa Global Distributors.

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