The Investment Company Institute’s most recent figures show that in 2012 there were 515,000 401(k) plans in the country, serving 52 million participants.

Read: Year in Review: Empower, Fidelity, and Voya execs

In 2014, total assets in all defined contribution plans hit a record $6.8 trillion. By the end of the first quarter in 2015, DC plans represented more than one-quarter of all retirement assets, and nearly one-tenth of households’ total financial assets, according to the ICI.

Total DC assets are expected to top $6 trillion in 2018, most of which will be in 401(k) plans, says Boston-based global analytics firm Cerulli Associates.

Read: Retirement plans in 2019

All of which is to underscore the massive opportunity for recordkeepers going forward.

But in spite of the phenomenal wealth aggregating in 401(k) plans, several more providers tapped out of the market in 2015, adding to a consistent trend of consolidation.

Read: 3 plan providers talk about myRA retirement program

Most recently, Aegon, the parent company of Transamerica Retirement Solutions, bought Mercer’s U.S. Defined Contribution recordkeeping business. That deal will move 917,000 participants to Transamerica’s platform.

Here are thoughts of leaders from Charles Schwab, T. Rowe Price, and Wells Fargo, appearing in the order that responses were received.

Steve Anderson, Schwab

Steve Anderson, President, Schwab Retirement Plan Services

Schwab Retirement Plan Services administers $125 billion in assets for 1.4 million participants in 1,200 plans

What was the biggest development in 2015 from your perspective?

Anderson: Plan design is key when it comes to helping participants take positive steps they often won’t take on their own. In 2015 we saw more employers implement advanced plan design features to drive participant outcomes.

These employers understood that to really move the needle, they had to go beyond established features like auto enroll and auto increase and deploy new approaches, including complete plan re-enrollment at higher deferral rates and the adoption of managed accounts as the QDIA, rather than target date funds.

This was driven by mounting research proving the benefits of managed accounts for participants combined with technology advances in the industry that make implementation much more seamless for employers.

What developments do you expect for the defined contribution space in 2016?

Anderson: As sponsors continue to focus on cost and transparency, more will look at reducing investment management fees as one way to help participants in 2016. Expanded adoption of low cost index mutual funds, collective trust funds and exchange-traded funds will shift assets away from active mutual funds that dominate defined contribution plans today.

Employer expectations for a personalized participant experience will evolve beyond tailored communications to broader use of participant data to deliver personalized investment advice, which is what most participants really want.

This will accelerate the trend toward managed account adoption in 2016. Investments by recordkeepers will expand participant access to managed accounts through both traditional national managed account providers as well as plan consultants serving as RIAs in support of employer clients.

For many employers, the ability to work with their trusted plan advisor to develop customized portfolios for each employee in their plan has very strong appeal.

Overall financial wellness is another emerging benefit trend linked to the personalized participant experience that many employers see as a powerful differentiator in the intensifying battle for talent.

Shifting demographics and employee expectations mean that a comprehensive benefits program with a holistic perspective on both health and financial wellness is attractive to many workers. Independent research also supports the benefit of an effective financial wellness program as a driver of increased productivity.

Has there ever been more competition for sponsors’ business?

Anderson: The retirement plan market has always been very competitive, but we’ve seen a shift in what’s driving competition as industry consolidation continues and as plan sponsor views evolve on what an effective plan needs to offer.

Key competitive drivers today include: a growing demand to show improved participant outcomes through innovative plan design; meaningful technology advances such as mobile apps that enhance participant communications and allow enrollment and transactions, not just account views; and a desire to integrate financial wellness initiatives as part of the retirement plan and the overall benefits program.

Aimee DeCamillo, head of Retirement Plan Services at T. Rowe Price

T. Rowe Price Retirement Plan Services administers $297.6 billion in assets for 2 million participants in more than 3,500 plans

What was the biggest development in 2015 from your perspective?

DeCamillo: The retirement benefit landscape has become increasingly complex, and we are seeing more plan sponsors and their advisors place a greater focus on truly understanding their retirement plan’s objectives in the greater context of their overall benefits program.

As a result, we’ve been able to have more robust and meaningful conversations with our clients to help them align their retirement plan with organizational goals.

At T. Rowe Price, we have a simple process for helping sponsors and advisors determine the plan’s “retirement benefit philosophy” that will help them arrive at a set of priorities reflecting the needs of the overall organization.

Having a retirement benefit philosophy helps facilitate that focus and provides both the sponsor and advisor with tangible insights about how to best advance the retirement plan.

What developments do you expect for the defined contribution space in 2016?

DeCamillo: A solid financial foundation is critical to achieving retirement success and due to competing priorities we continue to see participants’ financial struggles impact savings behaviors.

In 2016 and likely beyond, financial wellness will be a critical key lever, in addition to smart plan design, to solving for the retirement readiness dilemma.

In our more than 30 years of experience, we’ve seen changes in plan design and participant communications make significant headway on retirement readiness. In our clients’ plans, we’ve observed:

Plans that participate in auto-enrollment move the needle to an average participation rate of 96 percent
Adoption of target-date defaults as part of a QDIA in auto enrollment (96 percent of plans) has helped solved for age-appropriate asset allocation.
Auto increase and stretch-match plan design, along with robust participant education has improved participant savings levels to an average deferral rate of 7.3 percent (pretax) in DC plans

However, we continue to see evidence of Americans struggling with fundamental financial challenges that will result in an inability to save effectively for retirement. For instance, 24 percent of Americans’ paychecks go to paying off consumer debt, and 62 percent of Americans can’t cover a $1,000 emergency without borrowing money.

Thus, in addition to plan design best practices, we see significant value in integrating a Financial Wellness solution into overall participant engagement programs. An integrated financial wellness program will help employees address emergency savings, debt management and budgeting, building a firmer financial footing that will ultimately result in more successful retirement savers.

Of course, the regulatory environment will also bring significant change to the defined contribution space in 2016 with the implementation of money market reform and the potential for a new fiduciary standard for investment advice.

Has there ever been more competition for sponsors’ business?

DeCamillo: The DC market is a mature market with sophisticated buyers and we have seen similar periods of competition over the decades. We know that sponsors going through the due diligence process in regards to their retirement programs is the smart thing to do and we routinely support our clients through that process.

In fact, our clients routinely tell us it’s the way in which we partner that is our biggest differentiator.

We believe it is why our average client tenure is over 10 years and why our clients are 1.5 times more likely to recommend us based on their client satisfaction.

Yet, our ultimate measure of success is working with our clients and their partners to build a plan that engages employees, helps continue to attract and retain top talent, and enable employees to retire confidently.

Joseph Ready, EVP, Wells Fargo Institutional Retirement and Trust

Wells Fargo Institutional Retirement and Trust administers $329.8 billion in assets for 4 million participants (number of plans not provided)

What was the biggest development in 2015 from your perspective?

Ready: The use of big data to personalize the experience of individuals continued in 2015, and that applied to the retirement industry as well.

At Wells Fargo, we significantly expanded and enhanced our advice and guidance offering to retirement plan sponsors and their participants, with the addition of Financial Engines and our newly launched Target My Retirement product, which provides a more personalized investment allocation for participants using the product.

There was also an increased focus on helping participants not only with the accumulation side of the retirement equation but also helping them with income distribution throughout retirement once they exited the accumulation phase.

What developments do you expect for the defined contribution space in 2016?

Ready: We’re all anticipating the DOL’s release of the conflict of interest rule to fully understand how it will impact the industry, and more specifically, how it will influence how we’re able to interact with clients and participants and getting them the help they need.

One potential outcome of the rule is participants may be more likely to stay in their plan after they retire to continue to take advantage of low-cost institutional investments and access to education and advice.

This could foster further evolution and innovation of in-plan products and services geared toward helping people who are living in retirement.

In addition, the retirement industry will certainly be watching as inevitable changes takes place in the White House in 2016; it will be interesting to see if there’s a subsequent shift in the retirement policies that have been in play, including tax treatment of 401(k) plans, the advent of state plans, and other proposed retirement solutions.

When polled on if the markets will be better off if the next president is a Democrat or Republican, half of investors (51%) say it will not make a difference; a third say a Republican and 15% say a Democrat (according to the recently released Wells Fargo/Gallup Investor and Retirement Optimism Index).

Has there ever been more competition for sponsors’ business?

Ready: There has been industry consolidation and subsequently, fierce competition among providers (especially at the large end of the market).

Much of that consolidation has been driven by the demand for improved technology, personalized experiences, investments in data security, and an evolution of products and services to help participants not only save for retirement but to also help make their money last through retirement.

Although the number of competitors is decreasing, the volume of opportunity is increasing, and I think much of that can be attributed to ongoing benchmarks of fees and services which are prompting sponsors to explore what else is out there as a due diligence exercise.

Instant Insights /

Year in review: Charles Schwab, T. Rowe Price, Wells Fargo execs

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