“Our top priority at Natixis Global Asset Management is to help people live better financial lives, so when our research showed that student loan debt was preventing workers from saving for the future, we knew we should help,” says David Giunta, CEO for the U.S. and Canada at Natixis Global Asset Management.
Approximately 20 percent of Natixis’s employees are currently taking advantage of the firm’s student loan repayment benefit. “We expect participation to continue to increase, as well as to help us attract and retain talented people,” says Giunta.
At Natixis, all full-time and regular part-time, active employees are eligible to receive a lifetime maximum of $10,000 over a 10-year period to help them repay their verified student loans. The firm also offers a tuition reimbursement program for undergraduate and graduate programs and certifications, such as the CFA credential. Just over 10 percent of its employees currently participate.
Natixis offers its employees 401(k) tools and hosts lunchtime seminars on financial education topics such as wills and trusts, debt, first-time mortgages and eldercare.
There are other platforms that have emerged to enable employers to help their employees with student loan debt, including Tuition.io, FutureFuel.io and CommonBond. Fidelity Investments is piloting a program for employers this quarter and plans a full rollout in early 2018.