Increased Focus on Providing a Personalized Benefits Experience and Breadth of Innovative Benefit Offerings Continue to Drive Sales Across 401(k), 403(b) and Stock Plan Services Businesses
Fidelity Investments, a leading workplace benefits provider and one of the largest, most diversified financial companies in the industry, has added more than $98 billion in sales from new 401(k), 403(b) and company stock plan clients over the past year.
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Fidelity experienced strong sales across all markets and industries, especially in the 401(k) space, and superior service levels helped retain 99 percent of existing 401(k) clients. Assets from Fidelity’s new clients helped increase its 401(k) platform to more than $1.7 trillion, nearly 30 percent of 401(k) industry assets.
Sales were driven by several factors, including Fidelity’s ability to provide a personalized benefits experience that can help employees address the financial goals that are most important to them. New clients were also attracted to Fidelity’s ability to seamlessly manage multiple workplace benefits into a single, unified platform, especially as an increasing number of employers add benefits such as health savings accounts (HSAs), managed accounts, company stock plans and student debt repayment programs to attract and retain talent. Lastly, Fidelity’s award-winning3 mobile platform, which includes technology tailored for phones, tablets and smartwatches, played a key role in an organization’s decision to select Fidelity as their benefits provider.
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Following is an overview of results, as of June 30, 2019 for Fidelity’s core product areas:
- Defined Contribution/401(k) plans. Fidelity’s defined contribution (DC) business, which includes 401(k) plans, added $60 billion in sales and more than 1,400 new employers to its DC platform, with over 1,000 of those new clients in the small market. New clients4 include Bayer AG, a multinational pharmaceutical and life sciences company and one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world.
- Tax-Exempt/403(b), 401(a) and 457(b) plans. Fidelity’s tax-exempt business, which includes 403(b), 457 and other workplace savings plans for not-for-profit organizations, added $12.5 billion in assets through new wins and expanded relationships with 25 not-for-profit organizations. This includes Duke University, one of the world’s leading institutions for education, research and patient care.
- Company stock plans. Fidelity’s Stock Plan Services business, which provides companies with a range of equity compensation services for restricted stock plans, performance plans, stock options and employee stock purchase plans, added more than $26 billion in assets across 64 new clients. Clients who recently chose Fidelity include YETI, an Austin, Texas-based manufacturer of outdoor lifestyle products such as ice chests, vacuum-insulated stainless-steel drinkware, soft coolers and related accessories, as well as NIKE, Inc., the world’s leading designer, marketer and distributor of authentic athletic footwear, apparel, equipment and accessories for a wide variety of sports and fitness activities.
“Clients consider multiple factors when selecting a benefits provider, most important of which is a benefits provider’s ability to deliver superior level of service to its employees,” said Kevin Barry, president, Workplace Investing, Fidelity Investments. “Fidelity’s unmatched level of customer service, along with our innovative products and technologies, helped generate significant new business across all of Fidelity’s workplace platforms.”
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Innovative New Benefit Products Designed to Meet the Expanding Needs of Employees
Fidelity recently introduced several new workplace offerings that build on the company’s deep experience in the benefits space and are designed to complement traditional benefits such as health insurance and a retirement savings plan. These new products extend Fidelity’s expertise to new markets and can provide additional value to both employers and their workforce. Following are some details on the new offerings:
- Fidelity Workplace Giving. Provides employers with a complete philanthropic platform that seamlessly integrates into the current benefits program. Employees can research over a million public charities, make donations from the payment source of their choosing, and automatically apply a company match donation. Also provides employees with the ability to donate their time and skills to causes through company volunteer events. Employers enhance their workforce engagement and manage their company programs with simplified administration and robust reporting.
- Fidelity Student Debt Program. Offers a benefit designed to help employees tackle student debt, through a variety of options aligned with employees’ unique needs. Options include: direct after-tax contributions to outstanding student debt, leveraging other benefits (e.g., financial wellness, paid time off) to reduce student debt, or a newly-introduced student debt retirement option allowing student debt payments made by eligible employees to qualify for company contribution to a company 401(k) plan.
- Fidelity Personalized Planning and Advice5. Designed for individuals who have financial needs that are more complex, Fidelity Personalized Planning and Advice is an enhanced managed account offering designed to help individuals create and implement a financial plan, provide professional investment management and proactive ongoing engagement to help them stay on track.
- Fidelity Works. Offers small to mid-sized businesses a single, integrated experience to help manage a suite of benefits that includes payroll services, HR, health plan administration, health savings accounts (HSAs) and retirement savings plans. It provides employees at small to mid-sized business with the same benefits experience as employees at larger companies. Instead of managing multiple providers to administer company benefits, Fidelity Works is a “one-stop” shop that can help employers spend less time and money on administration and more time on activities that will help grow their business.
“Fidelity understands that the benefits landscape is constantly evolving,” continued Barry. “As a result, Fidelity is continuously investing in our platform so that we can continue providing our clients with the products, service and technology they need to deliver a positive benefits experience to their workforce.”
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