Case Studies

Renovating a Retirement Plan for Sports Retail Giant

The Client

A North American division of a multinational retail giant that produces athletic and casual footwear and sportswear.

The Challenge

We were already providing the client their employee health and welfare solution when they told us they were having a number of compliance and investment challenges with their existing retirement plan. They also wanted to outsource a number of administrative tasks and services, but due to some previous accuracy issues, were concerned that their current administrator was not able to effectively deliver the level of service they desired.

The Solution and Result

We uncovered that their plan was structured on a life insurance platform and needed to be migrated onto a securities platform. We connected them to securities licensed personnel and evaluated fund options for them to select and ensure that they were compliant with a whole host of regulatory requirements. We also identified the need for an investment policy statement and an increased role at the company to provide review and oversight of the plan.

To help them with plan administration, we conducted a 401k vendor RFP and interviewed the finalists. Over the next six months, we held weekly meetings to support them with the transition of their new vendor. The third party administrator we selected now provides a much more service intensive platform, including communication and mailing services as well as many of the day-to-day administrative tasks for the client. Our client is now able to dedicate fewer staff resource hours and still have the plan be administered effectively and in a much more compliant manner.

Today we continue to support them on the big and small aspects of their retirement plan and meet quarterly with the investment policy committee and provide ongoing detailed guidance and investment review. Our knowledge and previous experience with the client combined with the technical skill and expertise of our retirement team has proven to be very effective. They are now satisfied with the integrated solutions and have expressed that the level of service we’ve provided is competition proof.