Baltimore-based Transamerica announced that it has been selected as the recordkeeper for Gallagher's new 401(k) Choice Pooled Solutions, offering small and large employers the choice to join the group retirement plans or a pooled employer plan.
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.
According to the announcement, Gallagher's new 401(k) Choice Pooled Solutions offer cost efficiencies and professional guidance for the plan sponsor, including:
- 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.”
“The SECURE Act removed many of the barriers to pooled employer plans and paved the way for greater access for small employers,” added John Jurik, Gallagher's U.S. Retirement Plan Consulting national practice leader. “Collaborating with Transamerica, a pooled plan pioneer for over 20 years, will allow us to help plan sponsors balance the need to reduce costs with the desire to provide a competitive retirement benefit that attracts and retains employees.”
The announcement further explains that Choice Pooled Solutions is not a traditional multiple employer plan (MEP). Unlike a traditional MEP, certain plan qualification and ERISA requirements are applied at the individual plan/participating employer level. Pooled employer plans (PEPs) are a relatively recent type of MEP for which the Department of Labor and IRS guidance is still pending in a number of areas.
An employer participating in the plan retains certain fiduciary responsibilities, including responsibility for selecting and monitoring the 3(16) plan administrator as well as the pooled plan provider (PPP), for determining the reasonableness of service providers’ fees, and for periodically reviewing the plan as a whole. Among other responsibilities, the PPP acts as the 3(16) plan fiduciary (or delegates another entity to serve in such capacity). Transamerica Retirement Solutions does not act as a plan fiduciary to the Choice Pooled Solutions, the announcement notes.
