PLANADVISER - July/August 2017 - 30

(DOL) to create a safe harbor for lifetime income products,
recordkeepers are already proving they are open to making
them available, Rouse says. For example, MetLife and Wells
Fargo both have the capabilities in place to support lifetime
income products, he says.
Kieckhefer firmly believes this is a trend that will
continue, out of participants' necessity. " Establishing these
income products is a priority, " he says. " For most plan
participants, their 401(k) plan is their lowest-cost way to
invest and generate income in retirement, and we have to
make it work. "
The Fiduciary Rule
The DOL's fiduciary rule is another major concern among
recordkeepers. When the industry providers that make up
SPARK's membership were surveyed concerning the lack of
clarity about who is considered a fiduciary under the new
rule, 14% of the firms said they will be one for the first
time, 23% said they will remain one, and 30% said they
plan to continue under a nonfiduciary status, Rouse says.
Still, 34% indicated they are unsure how to approach
making the changes the regulation requires. " While about
half of the members don't plan to make major strategic
business changes, the other half already decided to fundamentally
change their business model or are considering
whether to do so, " Rouse says. " This level of change will
likely take years to play out fully in the market. "
Graff hypothesizes that due diligence requirements
under the fiduciary rule will cause broker/dealers (B/Ds) to
reduce the number of recordkeeper partners they use. " That
could potentially accelerate the consolidation already occurring
in the industry, " he says. " If firms limit their recordkeeping
options for smaller plans, for instance, that will
drive consolidation, and, obviously, from the recordkeeper's
standpoint, its position in the marketplace is going to be a
concern. " -Judy Faust Hartnett
2017 Top DC Recordkeepers
Total Defined Contribution Assets ($mm)
1 Fidelity Investments
2 TIAA
3 Vanguard
4 Empower Retirement
5 Voya Financial
6 Prudential Financial, Inc.
7 Wells Fargo
8 Transamerica
9 Conduent LLC
10 Bank of America Merrill Lynch
Total Defined Contribution Plans
1 Paychex, Inc.
2 ADP Retirement Services
3 John Hancock Retirement Plan Services
4 Principal Financial Group
5 American Funds
6 Voya Financial
7 Ascensus
8 Nationwide
9 Empower Retirement
10 Fidelity Investments
Methodology
The data summarized in the tables that follow are from the 2017
PLANSPONSOR Recordkeeping Survey, which profiled 55 leading
providers of defined contribution (DC)
recordkeeping services.
The 47 providers we present here work with financial advisers in
some capacity, in their sales to, and servicing of, DC clients.
Data is a snapshot of select adviser-related information as of
December 31, 2016.
Additional data on the complete list of providers that
participated in the survey are available at www.plansponsor.
com. To purchase an Excel spreadsheet with the full dataset
of
responses, please contact Michelle Judkins at michelle.
judkins@strategic-i.com.
Total Defined Contribution Participants
1 Fidelity Investments
2 Empower Retirement
3 TIAA
4 Principal Financial Group
5 Vanguard
6 Transamerica
7 Voya Financial
8 Wells Fargo
9 Bank of America Merrill Lynch
10 Prudential Financial, Inc.
$1,629,337
$465,184
$443,874
$443,114
$312,783
$262,802
$227,800
$206,780
$195,539
$191,635
77,000
66,244
56,133
52,607
51,510
47,045
44,994
37,048
36,208
32,999
19,697,641
7,846,000
5,953,079
4,939,504
4,709,053
4,688,679
4,631,096
3,410,773
3,086,790
2,833,532
30 | planadviser.com july-august 2017
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PLANADVISER - July/August 2017

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