PLANADVISER - July/August 2020 - 22

research / 2020 PLANADVISER Recordkeeper Services Survey
401(k) Plans
ALTHOUGH employers have a choice as to the type of retirement plan they
offer, 401(k) plans have clearly established themselves as the flagship retirement
savings vehicle. With roughly $6 trillion in assets and totaling more
than 575,000 plans, 401(k)s dwarf other defined contribution (DC) plan types
and long ago surpassed their private defined benefit (DB) plan counterparts.
As the market has grown, it has become somewhat defined by its imbalanced
extremes: 92% of all 401(k) plans each have less than $10 million in assets,
while the top 0.12%-i.e., the 732 largest plans, each having over $1 billion in
assets-control 51% of 401(k) assets.
The opportunities and challenges that arise from such fragmentation have
resulted in different servicing strategies. Small-plan sponsors may value the
" high-touch " experience offered by smaller providers, while large-plan sponsors
likely demand high-tech platforms capable of efficiently servicing the thousands
of participants enrolled in their plans.
While it seems unlikely that the 401(k) plan's dominance will be challenged
anytime soon, providers are continuing to innovate in response to a changing
market. A decade of legal challenges has heightened sponsor awareness of fiduciary
practices, leading providers to improvements in regulatory and compliance
services, cybersecurity initiatives and fee transparency. -BOK
Growth in Total 401(k) Plan Assets ($mm)
$5,863,466
$5,143,667
$4,231,432
$4,586,095
$4,930,732
Top 10, by Total 401(k) Assets ($mm)
1 Fidelity Investments
2 Empower Retirement
3 The Vanguard Group, Inc.
4 Alight Solutions
5 Principal Financial Group
6 Voya Financial
7 T. Rowe Price
8 Prudential Retirement
9 Bank of America Corporation
10 Charles Schwab
$2,037,733
$493,577
$454,223
$434,737
$322,976
$221,389
$195,224
$180,544
$173,412
$162,876
Top 10, by 401(k)s <$10mm in Assets
1 Paychex, Inc.
2 American Funds
3 ADP Retirement Services
4 John Hancock
5 Ascensus
6 Principal Financial Group
7 Empower Retirement
8 Transamerica
2016
2017
2018
Total 401(k) Assets ($mm), Plans and Participants

Total assets
$5,863,466
Plan Size
<$10mm
$10mm - $50mm
>$50mm - $200mm
>$200mm

Total plans
575,693
Assets ($mm)*
$716,750
$582,006
$590,563
$3,974,147

Total participants
73,550,467
Plans*
529,768
35,268
7,422
3,235
Participants*
15,654,871
9,983,955
9,197,977
38,713,664
2019
2020
9 Voya Financial
10 MassMutual
89,864
56,845
52,310
45,959
41,591
31,536
27,999
23,535
22,461
18,832
Top 10, by 401(k)s >$100mm in Assets
1 Fidelity Investments
2 The Vanguard Group, Inc.
3 Principal Financial Group
4 Empower Retirement
5 Charles Schwab
6 T. Rowe Price
7 Prudential Retirement
8 Transamerica
9 Voya Financial
10 MassMutual
*Not all providers report complete data; therefore, data segmented by plan size will not equal the corresponding overall total.
1,866
584
453
397
326
282
275
170
161
137
22 | planadviser.com July-August 2020
http://www.planadviser.com
PLANADVISER - July/August 2020

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