Ex-Wintrust Worker Loses Challenge to BlackRock Funds in 401(k)

Wintrust Financial Corp. again defeated a proposed class action challenging its decision to add BlackRock Inc. target date funds to its workers’ 401(k) plan.

The amended complaint against Wintrust still fails to identify appropriate benchmarks by which to judge the BlackRock funds’ performance, Judge Mary M. Rowland said. The T. Rowe Price and Vanguard target date funds referenced in the complaint have substantively different management styles than the BlackRock funds, Rowland said, making them inappropriate comparators.

The plaintiff, former Wintrust employee Lynetta Luckett, pointed to meeting minutes in which the company’s 401(k) committee compared the BlackRock, Vanguard, and T. ...