Another indication of the efficacy of targeting the mid-market 401(k) plan business.
Cerulli Associates recently took a look at the asset management side and found an intense interest in the space, with many increasing focusing their efforts in the middle market, including 401(k) plans ranging from $25 million to $250 million in assets.
The Boston-based research and consulting firm went so far as to call the mid-market “a bright spot against a difficult 401(k) landscape characterized by negative net flows in the corporate market, fee compression, and an increasingly litigious environment.”
John Hancock appears to realize the same, at least from the record-keeping side of the business, and its retirement plan services business announced Tuesday it’s making the division’s mid-market, open architecture platform available to third-party administrators, “expanding the breadth of retirement plan solutions they can offer their clients.”
“[TPAs] provide services such as plan design, non-discrimination testing and government reporting to plan sponsors; services which, in mid-sized and larger plans, could alternatively be provided directly by John Hancock through its fully bundled service model,” the company notes.
“John Hancock has partnered with plan consultants for decades, and we understand the important role they play in providing their small-business clients with local, high-touch service,” Patrick Murphy, president of John Hancock Retirement Plan Services, said in a statement. “With access to our open architecture platform, plan consultants will be able to continue working with their larger clients, bringing their local expertise and insight up market as their clients grow.”
With more than 20 years serving financial markets, John Sullivan is the former editor-in-chief of Investment Advisor magazine and retirement editor of ThinkAdvisor.com. Sullivan is also the former editor of Boomer Market Advisor and Bank Advisor magazines, and has a background in the insurance and investment industries in addition to his journalism roots.
