2015 Year in Review
2015 was an interesting year in the retirement plan business, and it was a good year for NWPS. In spite of (or because of) turmoil over the proposed DOL Fiduciary rule changes and a spate of ERISA Fee lawsuits, we closed the year with very solid growth in headcount, clients, participants and assets under administration. I don’t have the final numbers yet, but we will be compiling them for the 2016 Plan Sponsor Recordkeeper Survey.
NWPS made our first ever acquisition in 2015 – adding Towson, MD based CDM Retirement Consultants to our team. Already, we are finding some excellent opportunities to cross-train between the two offices. Now we are able to expand our participant call center hours without asking our Seattle-based people to come in at 5:00 AM!
We implemented and went live with a 401(k) plan for a new Fortune 500 Client with 20,000 participants. This was an exciting step forward for us because the project included expansion of our Seattle office space to accommodate a new call center. We designed, provisioned and built the call center then hired and trained a new team to handle the calls. It has been a great experience and we are expanding this high-touch service to more of our clients.
We added about 30 new clients to the NWPS roster including law firms, banks, consultants, retail, manufacturing, financial, medical and technology companies. Though we have a handful of Fortune 500 clients, the bulk of our clients are small businesses with 50 to 1,000 employees. Our average plan is about 250 participants and $25 million in assets.
Near the end of the year, we won a very large assignment. We were hired by another Fortune 500 company after an extensive (and exhausting) search process. We were competing with the very largest and best providers in the 401(k) business and (just) managed to pull out the win. This new client adds about 35,000 participants and some $6.0 Billion in assets under administration to our systems. We are working on implementation now for go-live mid-2016.
We have continued to grow because we do great work for our clients and with our advisors and partners. Without that, we don’t have a chance. That great work depends our employees and their obsession with getting things right. (More on that here.) Better people, better process, better culture.
Huge thanks go out to our entire community of clients, partners, advisors, auditors and many other advocates. We appreciate all of your support and recommendations.