MFS forms DC investment only office

MFS Investment Management of Boston announced today the formation of a business development office for the defined contribution investment only market. Matt Gannon will serve as senior vice president and director of DCIO and strategic alliances at MFS. He previously served as the director of dealer relations at the firm. While the initiative is new, MFS has been involved in the DCIO market for many years. “Formalizing a DCIO initiative was part of a natural transition for MFS,” Mr. Gannon said in a statement. “We were already acting in this capacity for various insurance company, retail and institutional platforms. Following the sale of our proprietary recordkeeping platform to The Hartford [(Conn.) Financial Services Group Inc.] last year, MFS made the strategic decision to be a pure asset manager and to provide investment solutions across various markets and platforms.” MFS has been marketing its investment options, such as mutual funds, subadvised portfolios and collective investment trusts. These offerings reside on investment platforms such as The Hartford, Fidelity Investments of Boston, Charles Schwab & Co. Inc. of San Francisco, Prudential Financial Inc. of Newark, N.J., and others. The initiative will seek to expand the offerings to new platforms. It will be a collaborative effort across the firm’s distribution groups and will provide a sales desk and more than 120 sales and relationship managers, according to the statement. MFS also has a range of materials to support advisers, including marketing collateral, white papers and business building programs designed for the retirement space, the firm said. It had previously provided record-keeping services to more than 6,000 retirement plans. MFS managed approximately $183 billion in assets as of June 30.