JULY Business Services (JULY) has received the first certification as a Pooled Plan Service Provider issued by the Centre for Fiduciary Excellence (CEFEX) from Broadridge.
According to the firm’s Oct. 24 announcement, JULY was evaluated for the readiness of its infrastructure to support compliance with substantially all operational requirements under ERISA and the Internal Revenue Code.
The CEFEX Pooled Plan certification program was launched earlier this year by Broadridge Retirement and Workplace, in partnership with Group Plan Systems, LLC, (GPS), which specializes in operational fiduciary due diligence oversight for group plans, including pooled employer plans (PEPs).
“We’re proud to be the first organization to earn its CEFEX certification as a Pooled Plan Service Professional,” stated John Humphrey, CEO of JULY. “We launched our first PEP in 2021 to support industry partners and value the message this certification sends to the market.”
Pete Swisher, managing partner of GPS, led the assessment required to certify JULY. “Our entire team at GPS acknowledges JULY’s commitment to excellence as a service provider, evident in the people, processes, and technology at the company,” Swisher said. “They take their role as a service provider to PEPs very seriously, and we appreciate the opportunity to collaborate with them in this capacity,” the GPS managing partner added.
“JULY has demonstrated commitment to recordkeeping excellence, evidenced by several years of previous CEFEX certification,” said Carlos Panksep, vice president of CEFEX. “They have earned the right to use the new CEFEX Mark, which indicates the firm’s established practices are aligned with investors’ and stakeholders’ interests and worthy of trust and confidence.”
To encourage more businesses to sponsor workplace retirement plans, Congress created PEPs, which became available for adoption beginning in 2021 through registered pooled plan providers (PPPs). PEPs are new plan structures created by the SECURE Act, allowing two or more unrelated employers to participate in a single retirement plan administered through a registered PPP. Each employer has the fiduciary duty to prudently select and monitor the PPP and other fiduciaries of the PEP.
