FPS Group is now IPX Retirement
Centennial, Colo.-based retirement plan services provider FPS Group announced July 27 it is changing its name to IPX Retirement, effective immediately.
The rebrand reflects the name of its flagship recordkeeping platform, Investment Provider Xchange, and the company’s renewed focus on investor outcomes. The rebranding initiative features a new customer-focused website—ipxretirement.com—along with logo and product enhancements.
“We are committed to improving results for investors and the advisors that serve them at every stage of retirement planning, from asset accumulation to lifetime income,” said Bill Mueller, CEO. “We combine our extensive industry experience with superior technology and partner with advisors, helping them deliver best-in-class solutions to their plan and investor clients.”
The IPX recordkeeping platform was originally conceived by company experts who saw the investment gap between corporate 401k plans and non-profit plans such as 403b and 457 plans and set out to modernize non-profit retirement plans. In doing so, they created the industry’s only recordkeeping platform for non-profit plans that consolidates multiple investment providers on a single platform and allows access to mutual funds, ETFs, fixed income annuities and professionally managed portfolios.
IPX Retirement specializes in recordkeeping solutions for non-profit organizations like schools, higher ed and faith-based institutions, municipalities and other non-profit organizations that manage 403b, 457, FICA Alts or similar retirement plans for their employees.
IPX Retirement is also a leading provider of force-out IRA solutions for all types of retirement plans. With the IPX Safe Harbor IRA program, employers have a cost-efficient, automated solution to manage fiduciary risks such as missing participants, small accounts, or uncashed checks.
Envestnet to be Investment Manager for Sallus Retirement’s PEP
Envestnet Retirement Solutions recently announced it has been chosen by Sallus Retirement LLC to serve as investment manager for the Sallus Retirement pooled employer 401k plan (PEP) for small business owners and the financial advisors that service them.
Berwyn, Pa.-based Sallus Retirement is one of the first fully independent and bespoke pooled plan provider solutions in the market. The Sallus Retirement solution is a digital, comprehensive, and bundled PEP offering designed specifically for small businesses that either, until now, couldn’t afford to sponsor a retirement plan for employees, or wish to reduce the risk of becoming a retirement plan fiduciary subject to oversight by the U.S. Department of Labor and Internal Revenue Service.
Chicago-based Envestnet will leverage its retirement plan experience in asset allocation, portfolio construction, and manager research to manage the fund portfolios in the Sallus PEP.
“We continue to expand the asset management and fiduciary capabilities available through the Envestnet financial wellness ecosystem,” said Dana D’Auria, Co-Chief Investment Officer of Envestnet. “Working with Sallus Retirement gives us the opportunity to optimize investments and lower costs in comprehensive 401k solutions for small businesses and the independent financial advisors who work with them.”
The Sallus Retirement PEP will become available later this year.
“By selecting Envestnet to serve as investment manager to select and monitor the funds in our PEP, we provide small business owners with the comfort that a team of independent fiduciaries are supporting them and their financial advisor,” said Lisa Kottler, Chief Growth Officer at Sallus Retirement. “Envestnet’s strong investment knowledge and established due diligence processes for selecting plan investments demonstrate our commitment to delivering a high-quality program to the underserved small employer community.”
Vestwell Raises $70 Million in Series C Funding
Cloud-based digital recordkeeping platform Vestwell recently announced it raised $70 million in Series C financing, led by a variety of financial services and fintech leaders.
Wells Fargo Strategic Capital and Fin Venture Capital co-led the round, which also included Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Manulife, Point72, Nationwide Ventures, Allianz Life Ventures, Northwestern Mutual, FinTech Collective, Greenspring Associates, Primary Venture Partners, Teamworthy Ventures, F-Prime Capital, Industry Ventures, and Commerce Ventures.
New York-based Vestwell provides the underlying infrastructure for workplace savings and investing programs, such as 401k and 403b retirement plans. The firm’s API-based technology is designed to support a diverse ecosystem of financial services and fintech companies.
Through these partnerships, Vestwell aims to make quality workplace savings programs more accessible and affordable, particularly in the underserved small business market where accessibility and cost have traditionally been barriers to adoption.
“There are more than 31 million small businesses in the U.S., and many of them have historically experienced challenges in providing retirement benefits to employees due to the administrative burden and high costs,” says Tom Richardson, head of Principal Technology Investments at Wells Fargo Strategic Capital. “Vestwell’s modern, automated, and user-friendly platform uniquely positions them to help small businesses provide workplace savings programs to more people. We’re excited to lead this investment and support Vestwell’s continued growth.”
Since launching in late 2017, Vestwell has continued to experience accelerated growth and market appetite. In 2020, despite the challenges of navigating a pandemic, the company saw plan growth of over 200%. Vestwell began working as a small plan provider to help power thousands of plans for household names including Morgan Stanley and Voya, while integrating and partnering with payroll providers such as Toast, QuickBooks Payroll, Gusto, Rippling, and Paylocity.
The funding news comes on the heels of Vestwell’s personalized managed account partnership with Franklin Templeton, as well as its expansion into state IRA savings programs alongside BNY Mellon.
This latest round of financing will be used to further expand the team, platform functionality, and servicing for Vestwell’s thousands of partners and clients. The focus will remain on leveraging the core infrastructure of its recordkeeping technology to expand into other workplace savings program areas such as 529s, HSAs, emergency savings, and IRAs.
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