NORWOOD, MA -- NYLIM Retirement Plan Services, a division of New York Life Investment Management LLC (NYLIM), and AgriBank, FCB, a wholesale lender and provider of business organizations for Farm Credit Services, announced today that AgriBank has chosen NYLIM Retirement Plan Services as bundled provider for its 401(k) and pension plans. 

NYLIM Retirement Plan Services will now act as recordkeeper for AgriBank’s 401(k) plan and three defined benefit pension plans, which together cover more than 5,500 people. 

The 401(k) plan is consolidating from three plans to one, and NYLIM will manage its $615 million in assets. 

The three pensions, with $470 million in total assets, will be moving from an unbundled environment to a bundled approach.  NYLIM Retirement Plan Services will handle their recordkeeping and actuarial services.  One of the pensions, with $300 million in assets, converted last summer to a cash balance plan.

NYLIM Retirement Plan Services’ state-of-the-art technology platform will allow participants to view retirement information from all sources together. 

Among the enhanced features the consolidated 401(k) plan will have are: a self-directed brokerage option from Ameritrade Retirement Account and a wide range of investment options including actively managed and index securities, U.S. growth, value and small capitalization, as well as international. 

“We were looking for a plan provider that had high-quality technology and a proven ability to manage the whole retirement plan package,” said John Lovstad, vice president of human resources for AgriBank.  “NYLIM continues to show that it can help alleviate the administrative burden of these different plans by managing them together on one excellent platform.”

“I believe that more and more companies will now travel this route of total retirement plan outsourcing as further emphasis is placed on making retirement planning easy and approachable for participants,” added Mr. Lovstad. 

“We are very pleased to have been selected for this important role with AgriBank,” said Tom Clough, managing director of NYLIM Retirement Plan Services.  “It’s particularly gratifying to expand our 30-year business relationship with an existing, satisfied client.” 

About AgriBank

AgriBank, FCB, located in St. Paul, Minn., is a financial intermediary, providing wholesale funds and services to Farm Credit Services organizations serving Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Tennessee, Wisconsin and Wyoming. AgriBank was formed in 1992 through the merger of the former Farm Credit Banks of St. Louis and St. Paul. In 1994, AgriBank was expanded through a merger with the Farm Credit Bank of Louisville. Effective January 1, 2003, AgriBank continued to grow through merger with AgAmerica, FCB, and the merged organization kept the AgriBank name. The 7th District Farm Credit Services Associations own AgriBank. As of December 31, 2002, AgriBank has $31.1 billion in assets and $2.0 billion in equity.

About NYLIM Retirement Plan Services

NYLIM Retirement Plan Services administers more than $8 billion in comprehensive defined contribution, defined benefit and deferred compensation plans as of December 31, 2002. NYLIM Retirement Plan Services oversees retirement programs for small, medium and large companies, unions, and individuals throughout the United States, and is widely recognized for its leadership in bundled defined contribution and bundled defined benefit plans.

With more than $155 billion in assets under management as of December 31, 2002, New York Life Investment Management LLC and its affiliates provide investment management and related services to a wide range of individual, corporate, public, and Taft-Hartley clients. NYLIM offers institutional asset management, retail investments, retirement plan services, guaranteed products, real estate investments, and alternative investments.

(1) Securities are distributed by NYLIFE Distributors Inc., 169 Lackawanna Ave., Parsippany, NJ 07054.

CONTACT: SSL Media Relations Sarah Lazarus, 978/369-4478 sarahlaz@worldnet.att.net.