After a “careful review,” Schwab Retirement Plan Services today announced plans to launch an expanded set of capabilities to serve defined benefit plans and nonqualified deferred compensation plans.
SRPS will work with two recognized industry leaders to help build out the new offerings—Conduent Incorporated in the defined benefit area and Newport, an Ascensus company, in the deferred compensation area. Both firms have more than 40 years of experience offering workplace benefit plans.
“After careful review we determined we could best meet the complex plan needs of large companies more effectively and efficiently by leveraging the expertise of Conduent and Newport.”
SRPS Managing Director Ben Sheppard
“While we’ve offered defined benefit and deferred compensation plans for years, our primary focus has been on servicing 401(k) plans,” said Ben Sheppard, Managing Director, SRPS. “As we continue to grow market share in the larger segments of the retirement plan market, we have an opportunity to serve the broader needs of these clients. After careful review we determined we could best meet the complex plan needs of large companies more effectively and efficiently by leveraging the expertise of Conduent and Newport. As leading providers, both firms bring a long-standing commitment to workplace financial benefits.”
SRPS will continue to serve as the plan provider, delivering plan services and communications to participants and leading plan sponsor client relationships, with support from Conduent and Newport. Likewise, both participants and plan sponsors will continue to access their Schwab defined benefit and deferred compensation plans directly through SRPS websites, which will include plan information supplied by Conduent and Newport.
“This collaboration brings together Conduent’s deep expertise in pension management with Schwab Retirement Plan Services’ workplace financial benefits expertise to deliver high-quality services to defined benefit plan clients,” said John Larson, Vice President and Portfolio Leader at Conduent. “Defined benefit plans are an important component of an employee’s retirement strategy. We strive to reduce the complexity of those plans to make them easy for employees to understand and for companies to provide these valued benefits.”
Ascensus CEO David Musto added that Newport’s more than 40 years of experience in deferred compensation plan design and administrative services “translates into valuable perspective and capabilities for all the clients and participants we will jointly serve.”
Timeline and capabilities
SRPS will begin systems work with both firms this year and offer enhanced plans to new clients in 2024. Current SRPS defined benefit and deferred compensation plan clients also will migrate to the enhanced SRPS offering starting in 2024.
In addition, professionals from Conduent and Newport will be available to consult alongside the SRPS service team to help clients optimize plan design and achieve their benefit plan goals.
Following implementation, today’s announcement from SRPS said it will offer defined benefit plan clients, including those with traditional pension plans as well as cash balance plans, a set of expanded capabilities, including:
- Data analytics, compliance and reporting tools for plan sponsors
- Expert support for data remediation and audit services and special initiatives such as early retirement windows and mergers and acquisitions
- Interactive calculators to help participants make decisions about plan options and retirement preparedness
- De-risking strategies including proven pension risk transfer, annuity conversion and term vested lump sum payment programs
- Administration for frozen defined benefit plans
Similarly, SRPS will offer deferred compensation plan clients a range of expanded capabilities including:
- Comprehensive end-to-end solutions for NQ plan administration with strong risk and Section 409A compliance processes
- Plan design, legal, tax and accounting resources
- Robust plan sponsor experience with extensive ad hoc reporting capabilities
- Detailed plan sponsor financial reporting
- Monthly FICA reporting for employer contributions
- Direct participant payments and W-2 income statement services
- Comprehensive asset liability management
- Enhanced plan financing options including company-owned life insurance, company stock and more
“This integrated benefits delivery approach is widely accepted in the large-plan market,” Sheppard said. “We’re excited about this initiative and the opportunity it represents as part of our long-term commitment to serving workplace clients.”
Schwab Retirement Plan Services, Inc. and Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. are separate but affiliated companies and subsidiaries of The Charles Schwab Corporation, based in Westlake, Texas. Schwab Retirement Plan Services, Inc. provides recordkeeping and related services with respect to retirement plans.
SEE ALSO:
• Four Questions to Grow Your Practice With Nonqualified Deferred Compensation Plans
• Charles Schwab Tops Latest J.D. Power Full-Service Investor Satisfaction Rankings
Veteran financial services industry journalist Brian Anderson joined 401(k) Specialist as Managing Editor in January 2019. He has led editorial content for a variety of well-known properties including Insurance Forums, Life Insurance Selling, National Underwriter Life & Health, and Senior Market Advisor. He has always maintained a focus on providing readers with timely, useful information intended to help them build their business.
