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Technology
Amid ever-increasing fee pressure and evolving expectations from plan sponsors, a new report warns that retirement plan providers must be prepared to consider economies of scale and to prioritize technology initiatives in order to maintain profitability.
According to findings from “The Cerulli...
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ASPPA is always providing information and insights that will be valuable to its members! Following is a summary of upcoming webcasts and events.
Live Webcasts
ASPPA Webcast: Loans: Correcting Taxation, Qualification and Fiduciary Failures
Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2020
2:00 - 3:40 p.m. ET
Speaker:...
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For years, there has been a persistent trend toward outsourcing retirement plan recordkeeping and other administrative responsibilities. While historically more prevalent for defined contribution plans, this outsourcing trend has been accelerating for defined benefit plans – thanks, in part, to the...
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Cyber crime, and cyber security, obviously are a concern for plans. But that means more than making sure plan records and accounts are not targets and victims — it also includes other functions, structures and systems.
Experts at the recent SPARK Forum held in Palm Beach, FL offered insights and...
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Plan sponsors look to their websites for a wide range of information, but recordkeepers have work to do regarding their design and features, say analysts who studied sites and users’ experiences.
At the recent SPARK Forum in Palm Beach, FL, Olivia Jack and Andrew Way of Corporate Insight presented...
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On Oct. 22, the Department of Labor (DOL) released a proposed rule that would provide the ability to default participants into electronic disclosure of certain required participant documents. This week, we’d like to know what you think, and how you’d improve/modify that proposal, if at all.
As...
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The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is reviewing life expectancy and distribution period tables that have been updated for purposes of the required minimum distribution (RMD) rules. The rules were sent to OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA).
The Treasury Department sent...
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A recent study on investors’ usage of digital channels to interact with their financial institutions reveals some surprising and some not-so-surprising findings.
In “Financial attention through multiple digital channels,” Vanguard studied their clients’ use of digital channels – desktop or laptop...
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When it comes to managing 401(k) investment allocation transactions, a new study suggests that the usability of key website features represents one of the most persistent problems across provider interfaces.
Two seemingly tangential features that came up continually during Corporate Insight’s...
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Missing participants, and the problems they occasion, are becoming a more prominent problem for plan administrators, argues ERISA attorney Heather B. Abrigo, Esq.
“It’s really come to the forefront,” said Abrigo, a partner at Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP, in a July 16 ASPPA webcast. “Plan...
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Cyber threats morph and evolve as quickly as the technology and data they compromise. Speakers at SPARK’s national conference in Falls Church, VA suggested ways to protect against them.
Evolving Challenges
Wendy Young Carter, a VP and Defined Contribution Director, Public Sector at Segal Group,...
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The times they are a-changin’. At an exciting — and, perhaps in some ways terrifying — pace. But in order to compete, one must embrace and employ the dazzling attributes and developments of our dizzying age.
Joey Coleman, Chief Experience Composer of the Design Symphony recently shared his...
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Technology offers a dazzling array of ever-expanding options for retirement plans and participants. But not everyone is interested in tech. Some recent blog entries suggest ways to heighten the experience, as well as non-tech ways to serve a plan and its participants.
Technological advances march...
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So you think your data is safe? It probably isn't, as keynote speaker Kevin Mitnick, “the world’s most famous hacker” and bestselling author, demonstrated at the 2019 NAPA 401(k) Summit.
Mitnick, once on the FBI’s Most Wanted list, is now a trusted security consultant to Fortune 500 companies...
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Since enactment of the Pension Protection Act in 2006, automaticity has been highly successful in improving retirement readiness. But new, highly personalized fintech advances may help drive retirement readiness to the next level, according to a new white paper.
Building on the success of auto-...
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Two key members of Congress are interested in learning more about potential threats cyberattacks pose to the U.S. retirement system and what industry stakeholders are doing to address them.
In a Feb. 12 letter to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), ranking...
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In his First Quarter 2019 Washington Update, Robert Kaplan, the American Retirement Association’s Director of Technical Education, provided an overview of the new climate on Capitol Hill as well as recent regulatory developments affecting retirement plans.
On the Hill
With the changes that took...
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Consumers tend to worry about “high-touch” products, such as credit cards and bank accounts, more than they worry about long-term savings accounts, such as their workplace retirement plans and IRAs, a new study warns.
Nearly 80% of American consumers are concerned about financial fraud, according...
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The 2019 Eastern Regional Conference will be held at the Doubletree Center City Hotel in Philadelphia on Thursday, May 9 and Friday, May 10. One of only two live regional conferences to be sponsored by ASPPA in 2019, the Eastern Regional Conference has been designed to educate retirement plan...
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At the first hearing on retirement security issues in the 116th Congress on Feb. 6, enactment of the Retirement Enhancement and Savings Act (RESA) again took center stage as a vital step in expanding access and addressing the coverage gap.
Featuring a single panel of witnesses, the four-hour...
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