PLANSPONSOR - August - September 2022 - 23

PROVIDER RELATIONSHIPS | 2022 RECORDKEEPING SURVEY
EverVigilant
Even when things are going well, benchmarking is essential
A
ccording to the 2022 PLANSPONSOR Defined
Contribution Recordkeeping Survey, recordkeepers
provide administrative services for over $10 trillion of
DC assets, with more plans coming online all the time. More
than 86,000 plans were added last year alone. That does not
include a growing number of state-backed plans and newly created
solutions offered by fintech firms.
All of this growth is happening while the recordkeeper
marketplace itself is both consolidating and offering new products
and services. The rules governing retirement plans are also
changing, whether that is through new Department of Labor
guidance on issues such as cybersecurity or through administrative
rule changes ushered in by the various iterations of the
Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement, aka
SECURE, Act.
Staying on top of industry changes and meeting an evolving
set of plan requirements is a challenge for even the most wellresourced
plan sponsor. Recordkeeper benchmarking is a
process the DOL calls for, and it is meant to create a formalized
process that plan sponsors can follow to make sure their
plans meet current fiduciary requirements, plus are in line with
current industry trends on pricing and services.
Current best practices suggest that plan sponsors should
formally benchmark their recordkeeper relationship every three
to five years. Benchmarking does not require that the sponsor then
change venders. Indeed, data from this latest PLANSPONSOR
Recordkeeping Survey shows that 61% of respondents have been
with their current recordkeepers for over eight years.
It can help, however, to identify fees that fall outside of
general market rates, or other deficiencies in service. Plan sponsors
can then use benchmarking data as a point of negotiation
with their current recordkeepers. Doing this routinely can ensure
that any additional fees are documented and that a sponsor can
show that it is working to stay on top of fiduciary requirements,
should participants have questions or bring litigation against it.
Forms of Benchmarking
Employee Retirement Income Security Act and DOL rules
compel fiduciaries to ensure that fees paid to recordkeepers meet
a reasonableness standard. It is not necessarily about finding the
cheapest recordkeeper; it is about weighing the needs of the plan
and the services provided, and placing that total cost within the
broader context of the going market rate. There are a number of
ways to collect this information.
At the most basic level, plan sponsors can simply ask their
recordkeeper for more data. They can also look at information
on recordkeepers that is available from a number of data
providers to get a general sense of fees and services offered
across various platforms. These options are a lighter lift but
may not meet the benchmarking requirement. Best practices.
Art by Philip Lindeman
PLANSPONSOR.COM August - September 2022 23
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PLANSPONSOR - August - September 2022

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