Products February 25, 2015

Aon Hewitt Tool Evaluates Asset Managers

A new investment research tool from Aon Hewitt provides “insightful and transparent” ratings of thousands of investment products, based on eVestment data and analytics.
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Retirement and health benefit solutions provider Aon Hewitt says its launch of a new investment manager assessment and monitoring tool enables the manager research team of the firm’s investment consulting business to accurately and efficiently monitor, evaluate and rate more than 11,000 investment products across regions and investment strategies.

The tool applies data and analytics from eVestment, a technology firm serving the global institutional investment community. Aon Hewitt says it can follow the progress of managers based on numerous factors, including items related to business, staff, investment process, risk management, performance and fees.

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“As the active investment management industry has grown and become more competitive, proactively identifying investment manager skill has become even more critical, and our approach to manager research helps our clients stay ahead of these developments,” says Mike Sebastian, partner and head of the global investment committee at Aon Hewitt. “The scope of data now available to us means we can provide this information to our clients at a moment’s notice in a way that’s highly transparent.”

Heath Wilson, co-founder of eVestment, says the firm is working to build an investing database that will serve as the “de facto standard for the entire industry, offering unprecedented depth, functionality and ease of use.” He notes that Aon Hewitt has been a valued client of eVestment for over a decade.

“We’re excited to expand our relationship with Aon Hewitt globally to bring eVestment’s powerful data and analytics to Aon Hewitt’s manager research teams,” Wilson says.

The new investment manager assessment and monitoring tool is available to all Aon Hewitt investment consulting clients. More information is available at www.aonhewitt.com. 

Administration February 25, 2015

What Retirement Plan Providers Should Bring to Communications

Retirement plan sponsors wanting to step up participant communications should make sure their providers are in tune with the latest trends.
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There aren’t many different ways a retirement plan provider can say it processes transactions promptly and makes sure participants have correct information, but a provider can differentiate itself by what it offers for participant communications, according to Cynthia Hayes, president of Oculus Partners.

In a webcast sponsored by communications provider Broadridge, Hayes noted that plan communications is one of the largest areas of expenditure for plan providers and plan sponsors. It is one of the fastest-changing areas in retirement plan administration, as technology and participants change, so it requires long-term investing of money and resources.

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Plan sponsors wanting to step up participant communications should make sure their providers are in tune with the latest trends. According to Hayes, some of the big trends currently include:

  • Segmentation strategies – Providers are getting more personal about segmentation, not just looking at age and gender, but how participants are engaging with the plan.
  • Data integration and management – Providers are leveraging their data about participants for targeted communications and to produce reliable metrics for plan/participant success.
  • Channel optimization – Providers are using all channels of communication (call centers, Internet, email and mobile communications) to meet the diverse needs of all participant audiences. The use of all channels provides a constant redressing of issues and reinforcement of messages over all channels.
  • Metrics – Providers are using data to show the return on communications investment, i.e. how successfully communications have changed participant behavior and outcomes.

Tim Slavin, senior vice president at Broadridge, responsible for Broadridge’s defined contribution business, says the approach providers take is shifting from, “Here’s our number, call us when you need us,” to looking at plan metrics and reaching out to plan sponsors to offer solutions. Hayes adds that historically, providers had to ask permission from plan sponsors to communicate a message to employees. Now providers should get pre-approval from plan sponsors to communicate with employees as appropriate.

Hayes says advisers can also add value with communications. While advisers traditionally have held on-site meetings for plan sponsors, she is increasingly seeing them offer their own Web and digital tools to communicate with participants. Adviser can help plan sponsors by making sure providers deliver on communications promises, and they can collaborate with providers to develop communications plans to present to plan sponsors.

According to Hayes, tools to help participants track progress are helping to overcome participant inertia and improve plan success without adding costs for plan sponsors. Slavin adds that using data to help participants track progress is an increasing trend, facilitated by the use of data on recordkeeping platforms.

Finally, Hayes notes that financial wellness is becoming a more dominant communications topic, and plan sponsors are increasingly offering it as a companion to physical wellness initiatives. “This ups the game for providers, and we see it as a tremendous area of change over the next 12 months,” she says.

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