Schwab Retirement Plan Services (SRPS) today announced plans to launch an expanded set of capabilities to serve defined benefit plans and nonqualified deferred compensation plans. SRPS will work with two recognized industry leaders to help build out the offering -- Conduent Incorporated (Nasdaq: CNDT) in the defined benefit area and Newport, an Ascensus company, in the deferred compensation area. Both firms have more than 40 years of experience offering workplace benefit plans.
SRPS will continue to serve as the plan provider, delivering plan services and communications to participants and leading plan sponsor client relationships, with support from Conduent and Newport. Likewise, both participants and plan sponsors will continue to access their Schwab defined benefit and deferred compensation plans directly through SRPS websites, which will include plan information supplied by Conduent and Newport.
“While we’ve offered defined benefit and deferred compensation plans for years, our primary focus has been on servicing 401(k) plans,” said Ben Sheppard, Managing Director, Schwab Retirement Plan Services. “As we continue to grow market share in the larger segments of the retirement plan market, we have an opportunity to serve the broader needs of these clients. After careful review we determined we could best meet the complex plan needs of large companies more effectively and efficiently by leveraging the expertise of Conduent and Newport. As leading providers, both firms bring a long-standing commitment to workplace financial benefits.”
"This collaboration brings together Conduent’s deep expertise in pension management with Schwab Retirement Plan Services’ workplace financial benefits expertise to deliver high-quality services to defined benefit plan clients,” said John Larson, Vice President and Portfolio Leader at Conduent. “Defined benefit plans are an important component of an employee’s retirement strategy. We strive to reduce the complexity of those plans to make them easy for employees to understand and for companies to provide these valued benefits.”
“We’re proud to work with Schwab Retirement Plan Services and offer Newport’s highly respected nonqualified deferred compensation expertise and services to their clients and participants,” said David Musto, President and CEO of Ascensus. “Newport brings more than 40 years of experience in deferred compensation plan design and administrative services. That translates into valuable perspective and capabilities for all the clients and participants we will jointly serve.”
Expanded Capabilities
SRPS will begin systems work with both firms this year and offer enhanced plans to new clients in 2024. Current SRPS defined benefit and deferred compensation plan clients also will migrate to the enhanced SRPS offering starting in 2024. In addition, professionals from Conduent and Newport will be available to consult alongside the SRPS service team to help clients optimize plan design and achieve their benefit plan goals.
Following implementation, SRPS will offer defined benefit plan clients, including those with traditional pension plans as well as cash balance plans, a set of expanded capabilities, including:
- Data analytics, compliance and reporting tools for plan sponsors
- Expert support for data remediation and audit services and special initiatives such as early retirement windows and mergers and acquisitions
- Interactive calculators to help participants make decisions about plan options and retirement preparedness
- De-risking strategies including proven pension risk transfer, annuity conversion and term vested lump sum payment programs
- Administration for frozen defined benefit plans
Similarly, SRPS will offer deferred compensation plan clients a range of expanded capabilities including:
- Comprehensive end-to-end solutions for NQ plan administration with strong risk and Section 409A compliance processes
- Plan design, legal, tax and accounting resources
- Robust plan sponsor experience with extensive ad hoc reporting capabilities
- Detailed plan sponsor financial reporting
- Monthly FICA reporting for employer contributions
- Direct participant payments and W-2 income statement services
- Comprehensive asset liability management
- Enhanced plan financing options including company-owned life insurance, company stock and more
“This integrated benefits delivery approach is widely accepted in the large-plan market,” Sheppard said. “We’re excited about this initiative and the opportunity it represents as part of our long-term commitment to serving workplace clients.”
About Charles Schwab
At Charles Schwab we believe in the power of investing to help individuals create a better tomorrow. We have a history of challenging the status quo in our industry, innovating in ways that benefit investors and the advisors and employers who serve them, and championing our clients’ goals with passion and integrity.
More information is available at www.aboutschwab.com. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn.
About Conduent
Conduent delivers digital business solutions and services spanning the commercial, government and transportation spectrum – creating exceptional outcomes for its clients and the millions of people who count on them. Through a dedicated global team of approximately 60,000 associates, process expertise, and advanced technologies, Conduent’s solutions and services digitally transform its clients’ operations to enhance customer experiences, improve performance, increase efficiencies and reduce costs. Conduent adds momentum to its clients’ missions in many ways including delivering 43 percent of nutrition assistance payments in the U.S., enabling 1.3 billion customer service interactions annually, empowering millions of employees through HR services every year and processing nearly 12 million tolling transactions every day. Learn more at www.conduent.com.
About Newport, an Ascensus company
Ascensus is a market-leading enabler of tax-advantaged savings — providing technology, services, and expertise that help more than 15 million people save for retirement, education, and healthcare.
The company is a premier savings program service provider, third-party administrator, and government savings facilitator. Its platforms, industry knowledge, and data-based insights enhance the growth and success of its partners, their clients, and savers through co-branded, private-labeled, and governmental partnerships.
Ascensus offers comprehensive qualified and nonqualified retirement plan solutions, third-party retirement plan administration, 529 education and ABLE savings program administration, health savings and COBRA administration, corporate- and bank-owned life insurance solutions, and fiduciary and total rewards services.
The company’s brands include Ascensus; Newport, an Ascensus company; PAi, an Ascensus company; and FuturePlan by Ascensus. Ascensus has more than $722 billion in assets under administration and employs more than 5,600 associates as of March 31, 2023.
For more information, visit Ascensus and Newport’s websites.
Disclosures
Schwab Retirement Plan Services, Inc. and Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. are separate but affiliated companies and subsidiaries of The Charles Schwab Corporation. Schwab Retirement Plan Services, Inc. provides recordkeeping and related services with respect to retirement plans. Brokerage products and services are offered by Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.
Through its operating subsidiaries, The Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE: SCHW) provides a full range of securities brokerage, banking, money management and financial advisory services to individual investors and independent investment advisors. Its broker-dealer subsidiary, Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (member SIPC, www.sipc.org), and affiliates offer a complete range of investment services and products including an extensive selection of mutual funds; financial planning and investment advice; retirement plan and equity compensation plan services; compliance and trade monitoring solutions; referrals to independent fee-based investment advisors; and custodial, operational and trading support for independent, fee-based investment advisors through Schwab Advisor Services. Its banking subsidiary, Charles Schwab Bank, SSB (member FDIC and an Equal Housing Lender), provides banking and lending services and products. More information is available at www.schwab.com and www.aboutschwab.com.
Securities are offered through Newport Group Securities, Inc., a dually registered investment advisor and broker dealer, member FINRA and affiliate of Newport Group, Inc, an Ascensus Company. Securities in California are offered through Newport Securities Insurance Services. For more information on Newport Group Securities, Inc. or Newport Securities Insurance Services and services offered, please visit our website at www.newportgroup.com or advisorinfo.sec.gov. Investment Advisory and fiduciary consulting services are offered through Newport Group Consulting, LLC, a registered investment adviser and subsidiary of Newport Group, Inc, an Ascensus Company. For more information about Newport Group Consulting and its services, please visit newportgroup.com or refer to our Form ADV Part 2, which is available by contacting us at 407-333-2905, visiting our website, www.newportgroup.com or advisorinfo.sec.gov.
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