The retirement plan business of Nationwide has partnered withLPL Financial to deliver actionable participant data to betterpersonalize savings strategies to LPL-advised defined contribution plans.

LPL, the nation’s largest independent broker dealer, has achannel of about 14,000 brokers and advisors, which oversee about$465 billion client assets.

In 2013 it launched its Retirement Partners Group to supportadvisors that have 401(k) sponsor clients. At the time ofthe rollout, LPL said about 1,400 of its reps had five or moreretirement plans on their books, which represented about onequarter of those reps revenues.

In a release announcing the new partnership with Nationwide, LPLsaid its advisors serve an estimated 40,000 retirement plans withabout $120 billion in retirement plan assets, as of June 30,2015.

In 2014, LPL launched its Employee Advice Solution tool. Bypartnering with recordkeepers, the tool allows LPL plan advisors tosupport their defined contribution clients with data-based,personalized advice.

The partnership means that LPL plan advisors with clients thatuse Nationwide as the plan recordkeeper can receive a daily feed ofparticipant data, if plan sponsors choose to pay for that level ofservice.

Sponsors can also choose a level of service that allowsparticipants to engage directly with LPL advisors.

LPL has already partnered with John Hancock Retirement PlanServices and other recordkeepers to deliver its Employee AdviceSolution tool.

It is yet another indication that retirement plan specialistsare looking to pair data and technological capabilities with accessto personalized advice.

Recently, Financial Engines announced it wasopening up access to its live call center of advisors to allparticipants in Financial Engines directly sold plans. Previouslythat level of service had been reserved for managed account clientsof Financial Engines.

The Sunnyvale, California-based leading provider of managedaccounts also recently bought The Mutual Fund Store for $560million.

The acquisition allows participants in401(k) plans provided by Financial Engines to have access toface-to-face advice at any of The Mutual Fund Store’s 129 locationsacross the country.