Barclays Global Investors will manage the two new funds available to Thrift Savings Plan investors beginning in May 2000.
The Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, the small government agency that oversees the TSP, announced last week that Barclays was selected to manage the Small Capitalization Stock Index Investment Fund, or S Fund. Federal employees will be able to put their TSP contributions in the S Fund beginning in May 2000, when the thrift investment board implements a new recordkeeping system.
In March, the board selected Barclays to manage the new International Stock Index Investment Fund, or I Fund, which will also be available to TSP investors beginning in May 2000.
Under the current TSP system, three investment options are available to federal employees: the C Fund, which invests in common stocks, the F Fund, which invests in bonds, and the G Fund, which invests in government securities.
The new S Fund will track the Wilshire 4500 stock index, which covers about 6,500 stocks of small U.S. companies. The I Fund will track the Morgan Stanley EAFE fund of stocks in 20 countries in Europe, Australia and Asia.
In addition to allowing for the I and S funds, the new TSP system will also provide employees with daily valuations of their accounts, allowing employees to check their TSP balances and transfer money between funds daily. The present system allows only one transfer per month.
For a daily index of the performance of the C Fund, see the "TSP Ticker" on the front page of GovExec.com. For more TSP information, see the Thrift Savings Plan guide.