OneAmerica Launches Retirement Plan Offering As Alternative to PEPs

OneAmerica has introduced OneConnect, a retirement plan solution that it says will ease administration for businesses and provide the scale that comes with a pooled or multiple employer approach, but with greater simplicity.

The solution features flexible plan design and streamlined fiduciary oversight.

OneAmerica notes that the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act included a provision that allowed for the creation of pooled employer plans (PEPs) for multiple, unrelated employers. However, it explains, the legislation mandates the involvement of up to four financial professionals: an Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) 3(16) fiduciary to keep the plans compliant with federal laws; a third-party trustee that is responsible for contribution collections; a pooled plan provider (PPP); and a separate 3(21) or 3(38) fiduciary responsible for plan investments.

OneConnect by OneAmerica simplifies this approach by allowing the plan’s adviser to act in the 3(21) or 3(38) capacity, while OneAmerica functions in the 3(16) role. Furthermore, while the PEP provision of the SECURE Act only pertained to 401(k) plans, OneConnect is available to tax-exempt employers that would offer an ERISA 403(b) or 457 plan.

“For employers, providing a robust retirement plan is no longer just a ‘nice-to-have’ to recruit talent. It’s increasingly a ‘must have’—a crucial aspect of a value-add benefit package,” says Steven Kofkoff, vice president, retirement services strategy, product management and practice leadership at OneAmerica. “But doing so adds complexities to employers’ workload. All too often, retirement plan administrators find themselves lacking the time and expertise to manage the daily administrative operations of a retirement plan. Our approach takes that task off their hands while allowing plan sponsors to retain ultimate ownership of a valuable talent recruiting and retention tool.”

OneAmerica provides the following 3(16) administrative fiduciary services for new clients or those wanting to restructure:

• Plan interpretation and discretion;
• Eligibility determination;
• Vesting calculations;
• Form 5500 government filings and signing (optional);
• Rollover contributions;
• Hardship withdrawals;
• Termination, in-service and required minimum distributions (RMDs);
• Mandatory cash outs;
• 1099 tax reporting;
• Beneficiary tracking;
• Qualified domestic relations orders (QDROs);
• Nondiscrimination testing;
• Loan administration;
• Participant notice mailings; and
• Fee disclosures.