Groups Move to Promote Retirement Data Standardization

The American Retirement Association, the Investment Company Institute (ICI) and The SPARK Institute endorsed the use of The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation’s (DTCC) Retirement Plan Reporting (RPR) solution to standardize and report plan level data across the industry.

DTCC’s RPR, offered through DTCC’s National Securities Clearing Corporation (NSCC) subsidiary, delivers a centralized and standardized solution for reporting retirement plan level information between mutual fund industry participants. RPR brings efficiency, automation, and security to the data exchange process as well as provides standard formats to accommodate the information flow among business partners, providing increased transparency for Form 5500 Schedule C and Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) Sections 408(b)(2) and 404(a)(5) fee disclosure compliance requirements, general supervision and sales reporting needs.           

In addition to this endorsement, The American Retirement Association, ICI and the SPARK Institute have committed to on-going collaboration with DTCC to ensure the RPR solution continues to be enhanced to meet evolving client needs. In conjunction with DTCC’s clients, the organizations will collaborate to further define the data fields necessary to meet the requirements of all parties involved in sharing retirement plan information, as well as to identify additional ways to standardize retirement plan level data processes.

Marty Burns, chief industry operations officer at ICI, says, “Automation of retirement plan level data on a trusted, single platform will be a significant win for all parties to a transaction by increasing transparency, further improving client satisfaction and lowering costs. We look forward to working with DTCC and the industry to drive further levels of automation and standardization in this space.”

Ann Bergin, managing director of Wealth Management Services at DTCC, adds, “We are pleased that the RPR service has been acknowledged as a key enabler of providing the automation, standardization and increased level of transparency required to meet today’s evolving landscape. We look forward to our continued partnership with the industry to ensure that RPR evolves in tandem with industry needs.”