A recent survey of fairly large plan sponsors suggests that after years of declining, recordkeeper fees plateaued in 2016. What trends are you seeing in recordkeeping fees?
For years, recordkeeping services – complex and difficult as they can be to provide accurately and consistently (not to mention profitably) – have been characterized (some might say disparaged) as a “commodity,” while fee compression (and the aforementioned complexities) continue to fuel industry consolidation.
And then last week, according to the 12th Annual NEPC Defined Contribution Plan and Fee Survey, the asset-weighted average expense ratio for DC plans was found to hold steady at 0.41%, consistent with the ratio reported in NEPC’s 2016 survey (i.e., 0.42%), though both the median fee and average expense ratio have dropped substantially since NEPC first conducted this study in 2006, when per participant fees were $118 and the expense ratio was 0.57%.
This week, we’d like to know what you are seeing in terms of recordkeeping fees compared with a year ago – and what you think the state of industry consolidation ahead feels like.
Reply to this week’s NAPA Net reader poll at https://www.research.net/r/W63ZP37.
And we’ll have it all wrapped up for you on Friday!
