Greater Access to DC Plans

Art by Ming Leong

LIMRA has published a new white paper outlining its 2019 predictions for the investment markets, the economy and employer-sponsored retirement benefits.

This year, the organization expects equity markets to slow but interest rates to continue to rise. It also expects to see gains in disposable income and bond rates, coupled with low unemployment.

Further, it predicts artificial intelligence (AI) will grow both in the number of companies using it and in its range of applications, especially within the financial services sector. While many companies already employ this technology via chatbots and automated underwriting, many executives see AI as being extremely important to business development and client service in the next three years.

“AI is a natural extension of predictive [model] building, and companies will look to technology to utilize their vast amount of data and to enhance the existing stills of data scientists,” LIMRA says.

According to LIMRA, this year will likely see an increase in access to workplace retirement savings plans for private-sector employees.

“This will be due to increased interest in multiple-employer plans [MEPs] and the rise of FinTech,” LIMRA’s report says. “Recent federal initiatives, such as President Trump’s executive order to expand the number of small employers that can offer multiple employer plans, have also helped pave the way for increased access.”