Participants’ needs in retirement and their preferences in terms of engagement with their wealth are becoming more sophisticated. Individuals want the ability to view their assets through the lens of a wider financial journey and demand experiences that will help them better understand, manage and activate the total wealth they have accumulated throughout their lives. In most cases, this is more easily said than done, as creating the level of personalization and customization they desire can be challenging.
The pace of change is accelerating with so many new ways to deliver an end-to-end experience for the participant and multiple nuances to consider over a saver’s lifetime. New legislation, compliance requirements, innovation, evolving service models and product features continue to reshape the retirement industry. Meanwhile, boundaries between retirement and other industries, particularly asset and wealth management, are blurring.
While recordkeeping serves as the foundation of the retirement ecosystem, modern retirement journeys require expertise and functionality far beyond administration. Surrounding the central recordkeeping function is a growing selection of services like financial wellness programs, managed accounts, retirement income products, rollover portability, communications, call center support and new payment streams from in-plan arrangements.
Most providers offer many services, but it’s unlikely that a single provider will offer all. When viewing the retirement landscape through an outcome-oriented lens, where the goal is ensuring retirement readiness and positive experiences and success for all participants, the priority isn’t consolidating capabilities under one roof. The value is realized through bringing together the strongest expertise, technology and services to enhance readiness and improve outcomes. In this environment, leading providers may need to function as both competitors and strategic partners.
Connected Ecosystems
This evolving landscape is too complex for a single provider to master every element on its own. Those attempting to run every capability will overextend themselves, diverting resources from their core strengths and diluting the value they deliver to participants.
Modern, technology-enabled partnerships are intelligent strategic choices for those seeking to drive improved services and to overcome legacy infrastructure limitations.
Collaborations among different retirement providers are crucial to improving participant experiences and outcomes, and there are many examples. Recordkeepers, third-party administrators and advisors all coordinate retirement plan delivery, whether they’re managing transactions, investment strategy or handling compliance and fund administration. Financial wellness programs operate best with a coordinated approach, bringing together the joint expertise of employers, benefits providers, advisors and recordkeepers. Asset managers compete for investment mandates and advisors compete for relationships throughout the retirement journey, each bringing their own expertise.
The objectives of workplace retirement providers, advisors and wealth managers coalesce where they create a holistic savings experience, moving employees seamlessly into retirement income and later-life wealth management services.
Revolutionizing the Rollover
Rollovers are a prime example of where recordkeepers, insurers and third-party administrators can facilitate a speedier, more secure experience at a critical participant juncture.
As people change jobs, retire or consolidate retirement assets, they increasingly expect the same intuitive, digital-first experience they encounter in other areas of their lives. But while the volume of rollover assets that are in motion continues to climb, the technology underlying it has not kept pace. Historically, rollovers involved burdensome paper forms, lengthy processing times, security concerns like check fraud and significant time out of market for the participant.
A streamlined process requires connectivity across recordkeepers to deliver unimpeded flow of assets and information. Participants should gain improved efficiency and security, and their retirement assets should stay invested. Such a model requires a multi-tenant architecture supporting recordkeepers, IRA providers and advisors. Streamlining the IRA account-opening process helps facilitate the flow of revenue while reducing processing inefficiencies. This capability would eliminate the need for check processing, allowing rollover distributions to be funded directly by participants in three to five days and significantly reducing their time out of the market.
This model isn’t just a vision. At SS&C, we’ve made it a reality. By working across industry participants and functions, and through robust yet flexible technology, we’ve fit these puzzle pieces together swiftly and effectively.
Our approach is agnostic, integrates with legacy infrastructure and is available to providers regardless of whether they use the SS&C retirement platform or another provider’s.
Unlocking Collective Wins
By combining recordkeeping technology, digital workflow automation and institutional integrations designed to speed up rollover transactions, we’ve helped eliminate operational obstacles. Participants gain confidence, providers improve efficiency and institutions strengthen their relationships during a pivotal moment in the retirement journey. When using the right partner and focusing on outcomes instead of individual company success, rollovers become the connective tissue that ensures a more secure and seamless experience.
Retirement readiness is a shared responsibility. Today’s interconnected ecosystem brings together specialized providers, advisors and recordkeepers, even when they compete in other areas. New technologies and collaborative operating models that simplify the transfer, servicing and administration of retirement assets create value for the entire industry while ultimately improving participant outcomes.
SS&C's Retirement Solutions helps clients grow, innovate and deliver better retirement outcomes through integrated technology, forward-thinking solutions and exceptional service. To learn more about how we can help your firm, read about our offerings.
