PLANSPONSOR - September/October 2024 - 29

" The pressure recordkeepers are under and how each is doing
things differently in dealing with " all the changes make things
complicated. Meanwhile, the expense of rebuilding recordkeeping
systems means " the business model is very stressed right now. "
She anticipates that pricing for recordkeeping services may
need to change to enable the firms to invest in systems.
Mandatory Provisions
Tim Rouse, executive director at the SPARK [Society of
Professional Asset Managers and Recordkeepers] Institute,
pointed to mandatory SECURE 2.0 provisions, regarding which
recordkeepers are working to coordinate with payroll providers.
One such effort, per the act's Section 603, is to arrange for all
catch-up contributions for participants whose prior year's wages
exceed $145,000. These contributions will have to be made on a
Roth, after-tax basis. This would require all plans with employees
earning above that level to add Roth features to their plans.
SPARK held its second workshop with payroll firms in July,
following up on one held in March, to work on ways to ensure that
recordkeepers have access to all necessary payroll information.
" [The] prior year's compensation is not known [by payroll
providers] until late January or early February, " Rouse notes. But
a participant could begin making catch-up contributions at the
start of a calendar year. It is important for the recordkeeper to
know whether the contribution needs to be designated Roth or
not. " When it comes to the individual ways of handling [administration
of] different provisions, it is up to our members, " but all
the provisions need to be thought through.
Another SECURE 2.0 provision, the Saver's Match, which is
slated for implementation in the 2027 tax year, is a 50% federal
matching contribution deposited directly into a taxpayer's individual
retirement account or retirement plan up to a maximum
contribution of $2,000-or $4,000 if married filing jointly.
Hess notes that it is " complicated but an important benefit to the
part of the workforce that needs it the most. " She also acknowledges
that, due to the work facing recordkeepers, " if employers
are not asking for it, it will get pushed aside. "
Beyond those provisions, Nathan Voris, head of channel
strategy at Morningstar Retirement in Richfield, Ohio, says, the
amount of compliance work recordkeepers need to do " means
scale is more important than ever, " alluding to the potential for
more consolidation in an industry that has been consolidating
for a long time. Right now, he says, spending by recordkeepers
on regulatory compliance projects is " competing with money for
[recordkeepers'] road map of innovation that [plan] advisers need
and want to serve participants, because there are finite dollars
and finite deadlines for development teams. " -Amy Resnick
Methodology
The 2024 PLANSPONSOR Recordkeeping Survey was fielded
in April and May via the Qualtrics survey platform. Thirty-three
recordkeepers representing a full range of defined contribution
plan types participated and reported on the assets, participants
and plans in their U.S. DC recordkeeping business as of
December 31, 2023. Via analysis of data in the 2024 Investment
Company Fact Book, we found that these 33 providers account for
99% of the overall 401(k) DC market.
The recordkeeping Provider Rankings (see the online version
of this survey) list the highest achievers in the various markets
of the recordkeeping business, for measurements such as: total
employer-sponsored DC plan participants; total single-employer
401(k) plans; top 10, by pooled employer plan assets; top 10, by
total number of adopting employers in pooled employer plans; top
10, by total 457-i.e., 457(b) and 457(f)-plans; and more.
If you have any questions about the findings published
here or online, or you would like to participate in the 2025
PLANSPONSOR Recordkeeping Survey, please email Surveys@
issmediasolutions.com. You may also email us at that
address or scan the QR code to be notified when the
survey goes live. -Kimberley Gonzalez-Quiles
2024 PLANSPONSOR Recordkeeping Survey - Providers List
Employers have many defined contribution plan recordkeepers to choose from, including the organizations listed below.
Profiles for these recordkeepers are available online at plansponsor.com/research.
ADP
Alerus Retirement and Benefits
Alight Solutions
Ameritas
Ascensus
Bank of America Corporation
BOK Financial
Capital Group, home of
American Funds
Corebridge Financial
Correll Co.
Empower
EPIC Retirement Plan Services
Fidelity Investments
Guideline
Human Interest
John Hancock
July Business Services
Lincoln Financial Group
Milliman, Inc.
MissionSquare Retirement
Nationwide
NWPS
OneAmerica Financial
Principal Financial Group
Schwab Retirement Plan
Services, Inc.
Sentinel Group
The Standard
TIAA
Transamerica Retirement
Solutions, LLC (Transamerica)
T. Rowe Price
TruStage (formerly Cuna
Mutual Group)
USI Consulting Group
Vanguard
Voya Financial
PLANSPONSOR.COM September - October 2024 29

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