Empower announced on Tuesday that the Great-West brand will officially change in order to “strengthen and simplify” how the organization connects with customers.
“To further promote alignment and consumer recognition, Empower has changed the names of its U.S. companies with a legacy ‘Great-West’ name to an ‘Empower’ name,” the eight-year-old Denver-based company said.
Empower’s in-house institutional investment advisory and research division has also been renamed “Empower Investments.”
Certain investment products offered by Empower, including mutual funds historically marketed under the “Great-West Funds” brand, are also being renamed to incorporate “Empower” into the product names in place of “Great-West.”
Great-West originally came to Denver in the 1970s. Empower was created in 2014 through a three-part merger of the retirement companies of Great-West Financial, Putnam Investments, and J.P. Morgan Retirement Plan Services.
Since then, Empower says it’s boosted its business to $1.4 trillion in assets under administration through organic growth and strategic acquisition.
In April 2022, Empower closed its deal on the acquisition of Prudential Financial’s retirement business.
In 2020, Empower bought the retirement business of MassMutual, making it the nation’s second-largest retirement services provider. That same year, Empower acquired wealth manager and registered investment adviser Personal Capital.
In 2019, the firm bought the naming rights to the Denver Broncos’ stadium, which is now called “Empower Field at Mile High.”
“We are proud of our long history serving the financial needs of Americans, and we are happy to continue that tradition under the Empower brand,” Empower President and CEO Ed Murphy said in a statement. “We know that more than 17 million Americans have put some part of their financial security in our hands, and we stand ready to provide them services that help make saving, investing, and receiving advice intuitive and simple—and make it easy to make connections among our different services.”
The companies changing their names are:
- Great-West Life & Annuity Insurance Company is now Empower Annuity Insurance Company of America.
- Great-West Life & Annuity Insurance Company of New York is now Empower Life & Annuity Insurance Company of New York.
- Great-West Trust Company, LLC is now Empower Trust Company, LLC.
- Advised Assets Group, LLC is now Empower Advisory Group, LLC.
- Great-West Funds, Inc. is now Empower Funds, Inc.
- Great-West Capital Management, LLC is now Empower Capital Management, LLC.
- Great-West Financial Retirement Plan Services, LLC is now Empower Plan Services, LLC.
- GWL&A Financial Inc. is now Empower Holdings, Inc.
- GWFS Equities, Inc. is now Empower Financial Services, Inc.