Deals and People August 23, 2019

Retirement Industry People Moves

Morgan Stanley makes changes to Wealth Management division; Mercer hires Wealth leader for Philadelphia office; and Nationwide selects retirement plan distribution leader.

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Art by Subin Yang
Art by Subin Yang

Art by Subin Yang

Morgan Stanley Makes Changes to Wealth Management Division  

Morgan Stanley has implemented changes to its wealth management team.

Anthony Bunnell will be joining as head of Retirement. Most recently, Bunnell led the digital efforts in Private Wealth Management at Goldman Sachs following the firm’s acquisition of Honest Dollar, a retirement savings platform Bunnell co-founded in 2014. Previously, he spent 12 years in consultative service, sales and business development roles at firms with strong retirement offerings including Prudential, Mercer, and J.P. Morgan.

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Other changes within the company include a combination of the firm’s Corporate Retirement team with members of the Institutional Sales and Distribution division. Maura Coolican, previously a leader in Morgan Stanley’s Retirement Plan Solutions team, will direct the new team and will report to Bunnell. According to Morgan Stanley, Bunnell, Coolican and the team will be focusing on a new digital experience for their retirement model in an effort to build brand awareness for Morgan Stanley, and will be evolving their rollover strategy.

Mercer Hires Wealth Leader for Philadelphia Office

Mercer has appointed Michael Cianciulli as Philadelphia office business leader, Wealth. His responsibilities include driving growth across Mercer’s retirement and investment offering and advising clients on the design and management of their retirement plans. Cianciulli will report to Marc Cordover, east market business leader, Wealth.

“We’re thrilled to name Mike to this role,” says Cordover. “His proven track record of success will aid us in providing exceptional service and solutions to our clients and enable the office to build upon past success, ensuring continued growth in the Philadelphia market.”

Prior to joining Mercer, Cianciulli spent 20 years at Vanguard, most recently serving as the regional director of defined contribution (DC) retirement solutions. He has achieved the qualified 401(k) administrator (QKA) designation with the American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries. He is a CFA charterholder and a member of the CFA Society of Philadelphia. Cianciulli earned his bachelor’s from the Fox School of Business at Temple University and his master’s from The Pennsylvania State University.

Nationwide Selects Retirement Plan Distribution Leader

Nationwide’s Scott Ramey will be the new leader of retirement plans distribution, reporting to Eric Stevenson, president-elect of Nationwide’s retirement plans business.

Ramey has most recently served as the vice president of Growth and Retention for Public Sector Distribution. In his new role, he’ll oversee retirement plans distribution for both public and private sectors.

“Throughout his career, Scott has demonstrated the ability to execute strategies and build deep relationships that open new distribution opportunities, improve retention and produce top- and bottom-line results,” says Stevenson. “Scott’s depth of leadership and business results proves his aptitude to successfully oversee our sales operation and continuous delivery of solutions that help our partners and participants grow their retirement savings and protect their financial legacies.”

Ramey has 25 years of experience in the financial services and retirement planning industries. Before joining Nationwide, he served as senior vice president of Workplace Solutions at Transamerica, offering retirement and employee benefits through an integrated digital platform.

Prior to that, he led institutional sales comprised of Stable Value Solutions, Transamerica Employee Benefits, Institutional Annuity and Institutional Mutual Funds. He also was executive vice president for Institutional and Retail Business Development where he drove consistent sales growth, led several marquee acquisitions and expanded relationships with many of the same firms that Nationwide partners with today.

Ramey received his bachelor’s degree from John Carroll University.

Data and Research August 23, 2019

Newly Sanctioned Auto Portability Solution Could Boost Retirement Savings by Trillions

EBRI projects the present value of additional accumulations over 40 years resulting from all terminated participant balances being automatically moved to their new DC plan is nearly $2 trillion.

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An advisory opinion and prohibited transaction exemption from the Department of Labor (DOL) has cleared the way for automatic portability programs in which retirement savings accounts can be automatically rolled from one plan to another for participants who terminate employment. The actions were specific to Retirement Clearinghouse’s system.

In an analysis of legislative proposals, the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) provided stats that showed auto portability would decrease retirement savings shortfalls for all age cohorts or plan participants.

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According to a recent Issue Brief from EBRI, each year approximately 40% of terminated participants elect to prematurely cash out 15% of plan assets.  For 2015, EBRI estimates that $92.4 billion was lost due to leakages from cashouts.

Considering auto portability as a standalone policy initiative, EBRI projects the present value of additional accumulations over 40 years resulting from “partial” auto portability (small balance cashouts of participant balances less than $5,000 adjusted for inflation) would be $1.5 trillion, and the value would be nearly $2 trillion under “full” auto portability (all terminated participant balances regardless of asset level). Under partial auto portability, those currently 25 to 34 are projected to have an additional $659 billion, increasing to $847 billion for full auto portability.

EBRI says the impact of full auto portability would be significantly larger for younger cohorts who would have more time to benefit from the cessation of cashouts. Focusing on participants ages 35 to 39, the size of their deficit would decline by 17% for those with one to nine years of future eligibility in a defined contribution (DC) plan, 19% for those with 10 to 19 years of future eligibility, and 23% for those with 20 or more years of future eligibility

Although those closest to retirement would see a smaller impact, it is not small change. EBRI says participants currently 55 to 64 are projected to have an additional $41 billion under the partial auto portability scenario. Under the full auto portability scenario, they would have an additional $74 billion.

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