Deals & People July 14, 2023

Ascensus Brings on Asset Management Executive as President

Former Pendal Group CEO Nick Good will report to CEO and Chair David Musto.

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Ascensus LLC announced Thursday that financial services executive Nick Good will join the firm as president, overseeing the saving plan provider’s business lines and enterprise marketing division.

Good, CEO of asset manager Pendal Group until May, will take the president title from David Musto, who will remain CEO and chair of Ascensus. Good will also report to Musto when he starts on September 5, according to the announcement.

Ascensus, which was acquired by private equity firm Stone Point Capital in 2021, has grown its footprint in recent years through tax-advantaged retirement plans, 529 education savings accounts, health savings accounts and state-facilitated retirement plan accounts. The Dresher, Pennsylvania-based firm has more than $720 billion in assets under administration.

Good will work directly with the company’s line of business presidents and the digital, marketing and analytics center, focusing on client success, accelerating commercial activities, business development and partnerships, cross-business opportunities and overall business performance.

“Nick’s appointment as president is a strategic investment in our future,” CEO Musto said in a statement. “He offers a wealth of leadership experience and is well-versed in growing and optimizing businesses amidst the rapidly changing dynamics of our marketplace today.”

By shedding the president role, Musto will spend more time on the “overall leadership of the Ascensus organization, talent and culture, strategic investment growth, enhanced delivery of enterprise capabilities, and technology and solution innovation,” according to the announcement. In this role, he will continue to lead the company’s service and operations; technology; corporate development; finance; human resources; and legal, risk and compliance centers.

Good, who will be based in the Newton, Massachusetts, office, will bring wealth management experience, including approximately two years as CEO for the Pendal Group, which was sold to Perpetual Limited earlier this year. Prior to that role, Good was executive vice president and chief growth strategy officer for State Street Corp., focused on areas including strategy and mergers and acquisitions. Before joining State Street, Good spent eight years with BlackRock/Barclays Global Investors, primarily as CEO of iShares Asia-Pacific.

“Ascensus brings a wealth of insights, technology, and expertise to the market, but equally as important in my mind is the enduring impact of its corporate character and mission as an organization,” Good said.
Compliance July 13, 2023

Senate, House Spending Bills at Odds on SEC Adviser Proposals

The House’s budget bill would block the safeguarding and climate risk proposals, whereas the Senate budget would not.

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The Senate Appropriations Committee advanced a spending bill by unanimous vote Thursday to fund the IRS, SEC, and financial services and government agencies, including specific outlays for SECURE 2.0-mandated regulations.

The Senate bill differs significantly from the spending bill advanced by the House Appropriations Committee on Thursday. That bill is largely the same as the bill that passed the Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee in June.

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Among the differences, the House bill completely revokes the approximately $80 billion in additional funding provided to the IRS by the Inflation Reduction Act over the next 10 years, while the Senate bill only cuts $10 billion. The Senate version is consistent with the debt ceiling budget deal reached in late May by President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-California.

The House bill also blocks several regulatory proposals from the Securities and Exchange Commission. These proposals would include: climate risk and greenhouse gas disclosure; swing pricing for mutual funds; the safeguarding proposal; mandatory auctions for retail orders (the order competition Rule); Regulation Best Execution; and the update to stock price increments. These measures are absent in the Senate version.

The SEC and IRS would also receive cuts from their 2023 levels for fiscal 2024 under the House bill. The SEC’s budget would be cut by $170 million down to $2 billion, and the IRS by $1.1 billion down to $11.25 billion, in each case specifically targeting the enforcement budget. The IRS cuts come in addition to cutting the $80 billion in additional Inflation Reduction Act funding. The Senate bill appropriates $2.4 billion to the SEC.

The Senate version appropriates $1.884 billion to the Department of the Treasury, excluding the IRS, and the House version appropriates $1.793 billion.

The Senate spending bill appropriates $14 million to the Department of Labor so it can construct the “Lost and Found” database of retirement accounts, as mandated by the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022. This provision is absent from the House version.

The two competing bills also have very different views on telework. Federal teleworking is a frequent complaint among Congressional Republicans and the House bill demands federal agencies to return to pre-pandemic levels of office workers. The Senate bill on the other hand, instructs the SEC, FCC, and FTC to report the impact of telework on recruitment, retention, and performance to Congress.

The two bills will have to be reconciled before being passed in each legislative chamber, then sent to Biden for his signature or veto.

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