PLANSPONSOR Announces 2017 DC Survey Standouts

Through PLANSPONSOR’s annual Defined Contribution Survey, 14 providers received the highest marks when defined contribution plan sponsors of all size plans nationwide answered the following question: How satisfied are you with your provider?

Nearly 3,500 responses were received and tabulated, 14 companies accumulated the greatest number of Service “cups” in the survey’s six main asset classes ranging from “micro” plans with less than $5 million in assets to “mega” plans with more than $1 billion in assets. They are listed below; the numbers in parentheses are the number of best-in-class (BIC) awards:

Micro (<$5MM)

Correll Co.
Gold (20 awards)

BB&T Retirement and Institutional Services
Silver, tied (18 awards)

Securian Financial Group
Silver, tied (18 awards)

Small A ($5MM–$25MM)

Securian Financial Group
Gold (21 awards)

American Trust Retirement
Silver (17 awards)

Sentinel Benefits & Financial Group
Bronze (16 awards)

Small B (>$25MM–$50MM)

OneAmerica
Gold (20 awards)

Empower Retirement
Silver (18 awards)

John Hancock Retirement Plan Services
Bronze (14 awards)

Mid (>$50MM–$200MM)

Charles Schwab
Gold (20 awards)

Milliman, Inc.
Silver (18 awards)

OneAmerica
Bronze (16 awards)

Large (>$200MM–$1B)

Bank of America Merrill Lynch
Gold, tied (22 awards)

T. Rowe Price
Gold, tied (22 awards)

VALIC
Silver (21 awards)

Mega (>$1B) 

Charles Schwab
Gold (19 awards)

TIAA
Silver (18 awards)

The survey results relating to provider satisfaction will be published in the February-March 2018 issue of PLANSPONSOR. The industry data from the same survey were profiled in the November 2016 issue of PLANSPONSOR magazine and can be viewed in the 2017 PLANSPONSOR DC Benchmarking Survey.

The companies will be recognized at the annual PLANSPONSOR/PLANADVISER Awards for Excellence Dinner. This networking event celebrates the accomplishments of the best of the best in the retirement plan industry. Each year, the nation’s leading retirement plan sponsors and advisers, as well as the top product, investment and service providers are honored at this exclusive gathering, hosted at the beautiful Pier 60 in the Chelsea Pier complex, overlooking the Hudson River.

“We created the Awards for Excellence dinner to recognize not only the standouts in the DC provider community, but we also honor plan sponsors, advisers and investment managers that demonstrated exceptional performance in 2017,” says Alison Cooke Mintzer, editor-in-chief of PLANSPONSOR and PLANADVISER.