Administration January 14, 2025

Transamerica Launches New Logo

The rebranding campaign focuses the firm's commitment to middle-income Americans.

Reported by

Transamerica Corp. Tuesday unveiled a refreshed brand identity designed to underscore its pledge to support middle-income households in achieving financial security. Beginning Tuesday, Transamerica customers and partners will see a new logo across the company’s website, buildings and marketing materials.

The updated logo depicts the Transamerica Pyramid Center rising from a horizon, rendered in crimson red. Complementing this visual change, the brand’s typography will transition to the Forever Forma font.

“Transamerica is executing a growth strategy to build America’s leading middle market life insurance and retirement company, including the nearly 68 million middle-income households that have been relatively overlooked by the financial services industry,” said Will Fuller, Transamerica’s president and CEO, in a statement.

Get more!  Sign up for PLANSPONSOR newsletters.

Transamerica’s efforts to revitalize its brand comes as the company’s Netherlands-based parent, Aegon Ltd., has been placing greater emphasis on the U.S. market, including positioning Transamerica as a leader in life insurance and retirement services.

As of December 31, 2023, Transamerica’s portfolio of revenue-generating investments totaled $427 billion. It is among the 10 largest providers in multiple defined contribution plan metrics, including single-employer 401(k) plans and pooled employer plans, as measured by firms participating in PLANSPONSOR’s 2024 Recordkeeping Survey. 

The firm has distributed more than $47 billion in insurance, retirement and annuity claims and benefits. The company has also processed 3.1 million claims, while maintaining 12.1 million policies in force and serving 10.3 million customers nationwide.

Compliance January 14, 2025

Sentara Healthcare Sued Over ‘Underperforming’ Stable Value Investment Option

Its 403(b) plan committee was accused of failing to monitor its investment in a stable value investment product offered by Principal.

Reported by

Sentara Healthcare Inc. and its fiduciary committee face a lawsuit over its 403(b) plan, with plan participants arguing that the company breached its fiduciary duty by failing to monitor the plan’s “underperforming” stable value investment option.

In Carter et al. v. Sentara Healthcare Fiduciary Committee et al., plaintiffs Tracey Carter and Bonny Davis accused the fiduciaries of failing to remove and replace the plan’s underperforming investment option, resulting in significant losses to the plan. The complaint was filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia on January 8.

Never miss a story — sign up for PLANSPONSOR newsletters to keep up on the latest retirement plan benefits news.

The stable value investment in question is the Guaranteed Interest Balance Contract, an insurance product offered by Principal Life Insurance Co.

According to the complaint, the GIBC is an off-the-shelf product offered to retirement plans that “lack the bargaining power to negotiate and select competitive stable value products that offer higher returns without additional risk.” The lawsuit argued that Sentara Health has substantial assets to invest in “superior stable value products.”

At year-end 2023, the 403(b) plan had $136 million invested in the GIBC, which the plaintiffs allege gave the plan substantial bargaining power in the stable value marketplace. Their complaint says the GIBC product lagged both the rate of inflation and competitor products by between one and two percentage points per year since 2019.

“[Sentara] had (and continue to have) a fiduciary obligation to seek and utilize superior stable value products available by soliciting proposals from competing stable value providers,” the complaint states. “Defendants have never done this. Had defendants done so, they would have been able to secure a stable value product with higher crediting rates for an equivalent level of risk.”

The plan has been invested in the same GIBC stable value product since 1999, and the lawsuit alleged that the plan has lost more than $11.4 million from 2019 to 2023 due to investing in this product.

The Sentara 403(b) Savings Plan had more than $3 billion in assets and 40,340 participants, according to its 2023 Form 5500 filing.

Represented by the Casey Jones Law Firm, Engstrom Lee LLC and the James White Firm LLC, the plaintiffs are asking the court to declare that Sentara breached its fiduciary duties under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, replace its committee members and make good on plan losses, among other requests.

A Sentara spokesperson said, “We are aware of the lawsuit, and to maintain the integrity of the process, we are unable to provide comment.”

«