Products December 20, 2023

Product Partnerships – 12/20/23

Transamerica selected as recordkeeper for Gallagher’s 401(k) choice pooled solutions; Prospera unveils enhanced tech stack; BPAS partners with SS&C automatic rollover program.

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Transamerica Selected as Recordkeeper for Gallagher’s New 401(k) Choice Pooled Solutions

Transamerica Corp. announced its selection as the recordkeeper for Gallagher & Co.’s new 401(k) pooled solutions. Through a single contract, an employer can select either the Gallagher 401(k) Group Retirement Plans or the Gallagher 401(k) Choice Pooled Employer Plan. This move offers small and large employers the choice to join the plan most appropriate for their business.

Gallagher’s new 401(k) pooled solutions provide: 

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  • Recordkeeping services through Transamerica Retirement Solutions;
  • 3(38) investing fiduciary services through Gallagher Fiduciary Advisors LLC;
  • 3(16) plan administration fiduciary services through TAG Resources, a Transamerica company; and
  • Distribution through Gallagher’s Retirement Plan Advisors.

“We are proud to collaborate with Gallagher,” Phil Eckman, Transamerica’s president of workplace solutions, said in a statement. “Our shared goal is to simplify retirement plan administration so that small and large organizations can focus on their core business and help employees prepare for retirement.” 

Prospera Financial Services Unveils Enhanced Tech Stack

Prospera Financial Services Inc., a boutique wealth management firm, announced the newest additions to its technology offerings for its financial advisers.

Earlier this year, Prospera rolled out its partnership with CAIS, which provides its advisers access to alternative investment strategies offered on the CAIS platform. Through this partnership, Prospera’s advisers access a paperless, single-sign-on platform, which includes adviser training, integrated education and operation workflows.

Prospera has also partnered with Envestnet Retirement Solutions, a management platform for advisers and plan sponsors, providing advisers with an integrated, open-architecture fiduciary solution. Prospera’s advisers who manage retirement plans for business clients access a customized web-based portal to analyze business analytics.

The firm also recently selected SS&C’s Black Diamond Wealth platform, which will be available to all advisers in April 2024. The Black Diamond platform offers performance reporting, rebalancing and client billing functionality, daily reconciliation services, a client portal with mobile access and integrations with several complementary solutions.

“The continued evolution within the fintech space enables boutique firms like ours to support advisers competing for complex and sophisticated business without sacrificing the personalized service at the core of our approach to this industry,” Prospera President and COO Tarah Williams said in a statement.

BPAS Partners With SS&C Automatic Rollover Program

BPAS, a provider of retirement and benefits administration services, announced its AutoRollovers service has joined with SS&C Technologies’ automatic rollover program, designed for third-party administrators, recordkeepers, advisory firms and plan sponsors.

The collaboration aims to streamline the administration of mandatory rollovers at the plan level. BPAS AutoRollovers provides an IRA solution for terminated participants facing mandatory distributions from their retirement accounts. This service simplifies the management of mandatory distributions for plan sponsors, providing a fully automated distribution process for plans utilizing the BPAS platform.

Established in 1973, Utica, New York-based BPAS—Benefit Plans Administrative Services Inc.—now supports 4,500 retirement plans, $110 billion in trust assets, $1 trillion in fund administration and more than 620,000 participants.

SS&C is a global provider of services and software for the financial services and health care industries. Founded in 1986, SS&C is headquartered in Windsor, Connecticut, with approximately 20,000 financial services and healthcare organizations using its offerings.

Deals & People December 20, 2023

Aon to Acquire NFP for $13.4B

NFP will continue to operate independently, with a “connected platform” to Aon.

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Aon plc is set to acquire retirement, insurance, and wealth advisory NFP for an estimated purchase price of $13.4 billion, the firms announced Wednesday.

The deal will be funded by $7 billion in cash and $6.4 billion in Aon stock, including funds affiliated with NFP’s main capital sponsor, Madison Dearborn Partners, and funds affiliated with HPS Investment Partners, according to the announcement. Aon, a global provider of risk, retirement, and health solutions to employers, will bring NFP’s more than 7,700 employees and more than $2.2 billion in revenue to the firm, according to details released on an Aon conference call.

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NFP will continue to operate as an independent company on a “connected platform” with Aon and will go to market as NFP, an Aon company. Doug Hammond, chairman and CEO of NFP, will continue to lead the business, reporting to Eric Andersen, president of Aon.

London-based Aon makes the move with the goal of expanding its business among large- and middle-market employers seeking services in insurance, health benefits, wealth and retirement advisement, the firm announced on the call. The firm noted progress it has made in building its Aon Business Services platform that will work well with NFP’s larger pool of clients.

“Given the investment in Aon Business Services, we are now in a position to deliver the same content and capabilities we deliver to large clients efficiently to middle market clients through NFP,” the firm wrote in a presentation announcing the deal.

In the presentation, Aon pegged the middle market for risk, wealth and health at $30 billion and “growing quickly,” presenting its business division as poised to “enhance distribution” to clients.

“We have continually evolved our leading capabilities to better serve our clients’ growing needs amidst increasing volatility across the marketplace,” Greg Case, Aon’s CEO, said on the call. “The acquisition will advance our relevance to clients, create opportunities for our colleagues and further strengthen our shared cultural values.”Aon noted on the call that the transaction is “financially attractive” due to expected contributions to revenue growth and long-term free cash flow generation.

New York-based NFP was founded in 1999 and was acquired by Madison Dearborn Partners in 2013 for $1.3 billion. The firm has been active in the acquisition trend bringing together employee benefits and wealth management with the acquisition of Divergent Wealth Advisors LLC in September and Wealthspire Advisors in June.

The firm’s wealth and retirement division has more than $50 billion in assets under management and $400 billion of assets under advisement, according to Wednesday’s presentation.

“This is an exciting milestone in NFP’s evolution that reflects the tremendous quality of the business we’ve built and the exceptional people who drive our success,” Hammond said in a statement. “Our clients will benefit from Aon’s global resources and distribution, while our people will have more opportunities to accelerate the growth of NFP.”

The transaction is subject to conditions, including regulatory approvals, and is expected to be finalized in mid-2024, according to Aon. The firms will continue to operate independently until the closing date.

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