Nearly three years following SECURE Act, Voya remains a leader in pooled plan space

By: Voya Financial, Inc. via Business Wire

October 12, 2023 at 09:00 AM EDT

As the market continues to adapt to new solutions, Voya’s growth continues to surge as the firm approaches nearly $90 billion in assets across Multiple Employer Solutions

Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE: VOYA), a leading health, wealth and investment company, announced today that the company has recently reached the thresholds of serving more than 17,000 employers and 1.8 million participants with nearly $90 billion in assets across a variety of multiple employer solutions.¹ Voya’s significant growth in the multiple employer solution space, including Multiple Employer Plans (MEPs) and Pooled Employer Plans (PEPs), has been driven by Voya’s scale and reach across the retirement plan industry and reflects the company’s commitment to helping employers of all sizes establish retirement plans that meet the needs of their employees.

First established in 2019 through the SECURE Act, PEPs were first introduced to the market in large part to help close the retirement plan coverage gap. As one of many provisions introduced within the SECURE Act, the creation of PEPs allows for unrelated small businesses to join open multiple employer plans, providing greater access to a 401(k) or similar workplace retirement savings plan to more individuals.

“Voya has been supporting multiple employer plans for many years now. While providing recordkeeping services to the very first multiple employer arrangement that was established in the market 60 years ago, we have also seen a growing interest — with more than 50 new pooled plan arrangements being established in the past 18 months²,” said Ginger Brennan, SVP, head of ABA Retirement Funds and Multiple Employer Solutions at Voya Financial. “While our role is to provide our experience in recordkeeping solutions to these plans, we are working closely with third-party administrators, consultants and plan advisors to provide our industry-leading plan sponsor and participant solutions to these plans. As a result, we’re pleased to help support industry growth in this market by offering intermediaries and plan sponsors more choices and expanded distribution resources as Voya continues to evolve in this space.”

By expanding access to workplace retirement plans for millions of full- and part-time workers, particularly small business employees, Voya has seen significant interest in these solutions — with more than 10% of start-up plans moving into these type of multiple employer arrangements.

Most recently, the firm announced it will be serving as the recordkeeper for the first 403(b) Pooled Employer Plan to market following the SECURE Act 2.0 legislation, which became law at the end of 2022. That legislation permits 403(b) plans to join a PEP and is designed to provide a pooled plan option to 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations and healthcare-related entities, broadening retirement plan access for employees within these industries.

“While it’s exciting to see the evolution of the broader pooled plan space, at Voya, we feel the market is still young, and there is significant potential for growth,” added Brennan. “Although we provide services to pooled plans of all sizes, our size and scale at the larger end of the market, — including our recordkeeping, distribution and proven resources that help drive both plan sponsor and plan participant engagement — significantly helps to improve our smaller-market offerings in this area. We look forward to the opportunities ahead to support plan advisors in guiding their clients to the right solution for them.”

Voya is uniquely positioned in the market to serve retirement plans of all sizes and across all segments. As an industry leader focused on the delivery of workplace benefits, savings, and investment solutions to and through the workplace, Voya is committed to delivering on its mission to make a secure financial future possible for all — one person, one family, one institution at a time.

1. & 2. Voya internal data as of June 30, 2023.

About Voya Financial^®Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE: VOYA), is a leading health, wealth and investment company with approximately 9,000 employees who are focused on achieving Voya’s aspirational vision: Clearing your path to financial confidence and a more fulfilling life. Through products, solutions and technologies, Voya helps its 14.7 million individual, workplace and institutional clients become well planned, well invested and well protected. Benefitfocus, a Voya company, extends the reach of Voya’s workplace benefits and savings offerings by providing benefits administration capabilities to 16.5 million individual subscription employees across employer and health plan clients. Certified as a “Great Place to Work” by the Great Place to Work® Institute, Voya is purpose-driven and committed to conducting business in a way that is economically, ethically, socially and environmentally responsible. Voya has earned recognition as: one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies® by Ethisphere; a member of the Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index; and a “Best Place to Work for Disability Inclusion” on the Disability Equality Index. For more information, visit voya.com. Follow Voya Financial on Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram.

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