Data & Research August 5, 2014

Many TPAs Charge Full Document Fees for Restatements

Many retirement plan third-party administrators (TPAs) responding to a recent survey indicated they most often charge a full document fee for Pension Protection Act (PPA) document restatements.
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Volume submitter documents are the most often used plan document (84%) followed by prototype documents (60%) and custom documents (21%), according to the survey from TPA Resources LLC.

Among those TPAs using volume submitter documents, nearly half (48%) are most often charging a full plan document fee for the upcoming required restatement. Another 41% charge a discounted fee and 11% charge an annual maintenance fee.

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Among those most often charging a full plan document fee, the average fee is $1,300. Among those most often charging a discounted fee the average discount is 30%.

Among those using prototype documents (60% of respondents), half most often charge a full plan document fee, 38% a discounted fee and 12% an annual plan maintenance fee. For those that most often charge a full document fee the average fee is $1,175.

More than 80% of TPAs that use custom documents (21% of total) charge a full plan document fee, and the average is $1,450.

The survey also finds more than 80% of respondents rely on an opinion letter from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), while another 17% both request separate IRS approvals and rely on the IRS opinion letters. For those that do at least sometimes request separate IRS approvals, 70% charge an incremented fee for that service. When charged separately, the average fee is $425.

The survey was conducted online from late June through mid-July. Respondents include 57 TPA business owners or managers. Nearly half of all respondent firms report serving greater than 500 plans; the average was 650.

A downloadable copy of the survey results, including relevant charts, is available to subscribers of TPAresources.com here. More information about the firm is at http://www.tparesources.com.

Deals & People August 5, 2014

Lincoln Retirement Names Institutional Business Development Head

Lincoln Financial Group’s retirement plan services business appointed Jason Key as head of business development for its institutional retirement distribution team.
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In this role, Key will report to John Morabito, Lincoln Financial Group’s head of institutional retirement distribution. Key assumed the role on an interim basis last month and was previously a business development director for the South and Midwest U.S. regions.

Key’s responsibilities include leading business development efforts and helping the institutional retirement team build lasting relationships with national and regional independent registered advisory firms. This includes advisers working with broker/dealers and consulting firms, Lincoln explains.

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Key has been with Lincoln’s retirement business since 2002. During his tenure at Lincoln, he’s held a variety of roles supporting the business, including stints as head of communications and education for southern and western regions. Prior to joining Lincoln, Key worked at Wall Street Capitol and New York Life in sales and client relationship management positions.

Key holds a bachelor’s degree from North Carolina State University. He holds the certified financial planner (CFP) designation and is also a chartered retirement planning counselor (CRPC), as well as a chartered mutual fund counselor (CMFC). Key holds Series 6 and 63 licenses from FINRA.

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