Hub Launches 401(k) PEP for Small, Midsize Plan Sponsors

Hub International Ltd.’s retirement and private wealth advisers now have a homegrown pooled employer plan to offer current and potential clients.

Hub Retirement Select 100+ will offer employers with 100 or more employees a pooled 401(k) plan aimed at reducing costs, complexity, fiduciary liability and administrative burdens, Hub Retirement and Private Wealth announced Monday.

NPPG Plan Professionals will be the pooled plan provider, Transamerica will be the recordkeeper and Hub will provide the retirement advisory services, according to the announcement from the Chicago-based insurance and benefits aggregator.

Hub’s goal in bringing the PEP to market is “to deliver the full value of HUB International to clients in a program with industry leading service providers while avoiding conflicts of interest,” Patrick Rieck, vice president of products for Hub Retirement and Private Wealth, wrote via email response. “Employers subject to an audit have an opportunity to potentially reduce costs, reduce administrative burdens and achieve more comprehensive fiduciary outsourcing.”

Rieck noted that the PEP will be available for use for all Hub advisers across the U.S. He wrote that the PEP is intended more for employers with an existing plan, but employers without an existing plan may also join.

The Setting Every Community up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019 made PEPs possible to help smooth the path for more businesses to start retirement plans by benefitting from the scale and efficiency of pooling with one provider. Uptake has stuttered, in part due to the pandemic hitting small and midsize businesses hard shortly after SECURE’s passage.

This year, growth of PEP registration with the Department of Labor has slowed, but some existing PEPs have reported asset growth as businesses sign on to the offering. Payroll provider Paychex, for example, recently reported double-digit growth in its 401(k) PEP, with more than 25,000 employers now enrolled.

Hub advisers will work with clients to see if the PEP option can provide benefits, according to the firm, with the PEP’s capabilities including:

• 3(38) investment management
• Fiduciary risk support
• Intentional retirement plan d
• Quarterly monitoring resources

“With HUB Retirement Select 100+ PEP, clients can offer a competitive retirement plan to their employees, helping them achieve financial security and overall wellness,” Joe DeNoyior, president of Hub RPW, said in a statement. “Our PEP provides clients, including small and mid-size businesses, with a viable solution that may reduce costs, lessens administrative burdens, minimizes fiduciary responsibility and, most of all, enables our clients to focus more on their core business.”

The national aggregator of retirement, wealth management, insurance and employee benefits provides investment advisory services to clients whose total assets are approximately $148 billion, according to the firm.