Products March 17, 2015

UBS Rebrands Retirement Plan Consulting Business

Formerly known as the DC Advisory Program, the retirement plan consulting business of UBS Wealth Management Americas has been renamed UBS Retirement Plan Consulting Services.
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UBS aims to better establish its service offering and commitment to the business and its plan sponsor clients.

UBS Retirement Plan Consulting Services provides sponsors with the following:

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  • Customized advice and direction for managing plan complexity;
  • A retirement plan consultant who delivers advice through a firm with resources and capital; and
  • Retirement plan consulting capabilities and financial experience to manage the challenges plan sponsors and participants face.

“Our goal is to help plan participants prepare for retirement by providing investment-related education that assists participants in making informed investment decisions,” says Gene Silverman, head of corporate retirement plans for UBS Wealth Management Americas.

Retirement plans and clients face a complex environment in light of ongoing regulatory changes, such as potential new Department of Labor fiduciary rules, UBS says. The consulting business conducted research within the industry, evaluating clients in order to better assist them. “As a result of plan sponsor demand for a consultant to help them manage their fiduciary responsibilities in this changing environment, our business is experiencing significant growth,” Silverman adds. “The retirement plan landscape has shifted, and plan sponsors today face heightened scrutiny.”

Comprised of a national network of consultants serving more than 1,400 retirement plans, UBS Retirement Plan Consulting Services serves organizations of all sizes across a variety of industry. The business, which is a part of global financial services firm, UBS AG, represents more than $55 billion in plan assets.

Products March 17, 2015

Prudential Offers Measure of Employee Financial Wellness

Prudential Group Insurance, a business of Prudential Financial introduced a tool that allows employers to measure the financial wellness of their workers.
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The Prutection Score gauges how financially prepared employees are, should a risk event occur, by looking at the resources available to them—personal funds and insurance coverage—relative to the resources needed. This holistic approach helps employers determine if their employees are in a position to cover their families’ financial needs should they experience a loss of income or financial challenges linked to a critical illness or accident.

Traditionally, many people measured their financial wellness primarily by their ability to pay their bills and by how well they were preparing for retirement. In addition to those key indicators, people must also fully consider the following key financial risks faced during the working years—loss of income due to premature death, loss of income due to illness or injury, and out-of-pocket medical and living expenses associated with a critical illness or accident.

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The Prutection Score is a measure of how prepared a group of employees are for these risks. For each of the three risks, the Prutection Score is the ratio of funds available to funds needed which are estimated using employee demographic information, Prudential survey data and a variety of credible external industry and government sources.

The tool is not intended to advise plan sponsors or their employees what their specific financial needs might be or the exact amount of coverage any one individual might need now or in the future. The resulting scores are to be used for an entire group of employees or large demographics within a group.

Using Prutection Score, employers can gauge the financial wellness of their employees and better understand the factors that contribute to their financial wellness. These results can be compared with benchmarks established for the company’s industry, region, size, and employee demographics, so that employers can identify segments of their employee populations that need help to improve their financial wellness.

Through a national survey of 5,335 full-time employees with medical insurance, Prudential has established national Prutection Score benchmarks.

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