Principal Bank, a member of the Principal Financial Group in Des Moines, has announced plans to offer program sponsors a rollover IRA option for departing employees with low 401(k) balances.
Principal Bank's Safe Harbor IRA was developed in response to regulations issued by the Department of Labor last September, the company said on Thursday. The regulations require that, beginning this March 28, mandatory distributions of more than $1,000 be automatically rolled into an IRA, unless the participant chooses otherwise.
The IRA offers no transaction or investment fees, and assistance from bankers is available by telephone. Established in 1998, Principal Bank was one of the first direct banks approved and chartered by the Office of Thrift Supervision as a federal savings bank. It had $1.2 billion of assets at Dec. 31.
