Mercer Collaborates With Empower Retirement as Recordkeeper for Its Fast-Growing Mercer Wise 401(k) Retirement Solution as It Plans to Launch Companion Pooled Employer Plan in Early 2021

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mercer, a global leader in redefining the world of work, reshaping retirement and investment outcomes, and unlocking real health and well-being, and a business of Marsh & McLennan (NYSE: MMC), announces the expansion of its outsourced retirement savings plan solutions.

After a rigorous due diligence process, Mercer selected Empower Retirement as a recordkeeper for Mercer Wise 401(k), Mercer’s outsourced 401(k) solution, which seeks to improve participant outcomes while reducing plan sponsors’ administrative burdens and fiduciary risk. The engagement is also expected to add more flexibility to Mercer’s outsourced retirement plan solutions as the company plans to launch a Pooled Employer Plan in early 2021, for which Empower will be the recordkeeper.

Launched in 2017, Mercer Wise 401(k) aims to innovate retirement savings solutions for clients, and enables plan sponsors and plan participants to benefit from the scale of Mercer, which ranked as the largest OCIO provider in a recent industry survey,¹ with more-than-$300 billion in global OCIO assets under management². Clients will now also have the benefit of access to Empower, the second largest retirement services provider in the U.S.

The combination of Mercer and Empower will bring Mercer’s market-leading investment and governance solutions together with Empower’s participant-centric recordkeeping technology to clients of both Mercer Wise 401(k) and the intended PEP.

The expansion of Mercer’s spectrum of retirement solutions comes as the COVID-19 crisis has put strain and cost pressure on many plan sponsors, leading to an increased demand for outsourced solutions. This strain is evident in two recent Mercer surveys, which show that nearly 50% of respondents say they are spending less time than they would like to on their retirement plans³. Given recent market volatility, the complexity of retirement plan and investment issues, and many competing demands for employers’ time, the idea of outsourcing to a high-quality pooled plan can be a compelling one.

Chris Mahoney, Leader for Mercer’s U.S. Investments and Retirement business, said, “The retirement landscape is changing, and Mercer continues to lead in reinventing retirement offerings for organizations. While many companies are just beginning to offer pooled plans, Mercer already has years of experience in managing groups of plans, and brings significant scale and proven results. We are excited to collaborate with Empower, a proven industry leader, with the intent of creating better outcomes for plan sponsors and their participants, and improving retirement plan coverage during this challenging time.”

“The key to driving better retirement outcomes for more Americans is greater access to high quality retirement plans that offer compelling plan features, high quality investment options and professional advice,” said Tina Wilson, chief product officer for Empower Retirement. “Through the Mercer Wise 401(k) program and the intended Pooled Employer Plan, we believe that more plan sponsors will have the opportunity to deliver state-of-the-art retirement benefits to their employees who deserve the opportunity to achieve greater financial security.”

Mercer currently has more than $1 billion in assets under management in its Mercer Wise 401(k) solution⁴.

For more information on Mercer’s pooled offerings, click here.

About Mercer

Mercer believes in building brighter futures by redefining the world of work, reshaping retirement and investment outcomes, and unlocking real health and well-being. Mercer’s more than 25,000 employees are based in 44 countries and the firm operates in over 130 countries. Mercer is a business of Marsh & McLennan (NYSE: MMC), the world’s leading professional services firm in the areas of risk, strategy and people, with 76,000 colleagues and annual revenue of $17 billion. Through its market-leading businesses including Marsh, Guy Carpenter and Oliver Wyman, Marsh & McLennan helps clients navigate an increasingly dynamic and complex environment. For more information, visit www.mercer.com. Follow Mercer on Twitter @Mercer.

For Important Notices related to Mercer LLC and/or its associated companies, please click here.

About Empower Retirement

Headquartered in metro Denver, Empower Retirement administers $667 billion in assets for more than 9.7 million retirement plan participants as of June 30. It is the nation’s second-largest retirement plan recordkeeper by total participants. Empower serves all segments of the employer-sponsored retirement plan market: government 457 plans; small, mid-size and large corporate 401(k) clients; non-profit 403 (b) entities; private-label recordkeeping clients; and IRA customers. Personal Capital, a subsidiary of Empower Retirement, is an industry-leading hybrid wealth manager that currently manages more than $13 billion in assets virtually delivered from offices across the U.S. For more information please visit empower-retirement.com and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram.

¹ Pension & Investments magazine (P&I), AUA ranked by worldwide assets under advisement as of March 31, 2020 as reported by each firm to P&I. Mercer did not pay a fee to participate in this survey. This survey is not indicative of the adviser’s future performance. Please see Important Notices for important information about Assets under Advisement.

² Company information as of June 30, 2020.

³ Two Mercer surveys of approximately 200 retirement professionals conducted in June 2020 and August 2020.

⁴ Based on company information as of July 31, 2020.