Schwab removes Pimco from target date funds

The Charles Schwab Corp. said Thursday that it had removed Pimco funds from all its target date funds. “That includes the removal of [Pimco Total Return (PTTRX)] from our retail TDFs and of Pimco as a separate account manager in the Schwab Institutional Core-Plus Fixed Income Trust Fund, in which the Schwab Managed Retirement Trust Funds invest,” said Schwab spokeswoman Alison Wertheim. Ms. Wertheim cited “ongoing organizational changes at the firm” for the action. The removal of Pimco funds, first reported by Reuters, is the latest blow to a fund company whose flagship Total Return Fund recorded its largest outflows in history last month after the departure of Bill Gross, who had co-founded the firm in 1971 and managed the fund since 1987. Investors withdrew $23.5 billion from the Total Return Fund (PTTAX) in September. Mr. Gross now works at Janus Capital Group Inc. The withdrawals leave the fund with about $198 billion in assets, according to figures from Morningstar Inc. Pimco officials did not respond to inquiries.