On top of day-to-day troubleshooting, more than 85 percent of advised plan sponsors say over the past five years their record-keepers have started to offer services such as employee communications and education, retirement and rollover planning, fee and fiduciary disclosure, and information on plan design and testing. In addition, the influence of record-keepers on plan design changes tends to increase with the size of plans, Fidelity says.
As the roles and capabilities of record-keepers grow, plan sponsors demonstrate increased satisfaction when both advisors and record-keepers have an impact on plan design decisions. “This is an opportunity for advisors to remain engaged -- even with sponsors of larger plans -- by identifying areas where they can team up with their clients’ record-keepers and work together as partners,” Fidelity says.