Empower is already the second-biggest U.S. plan provider by number of participants, behind Fidelity. The deal will add $314 billion in assets among 4,300 plans, boosting Empower's size to $1.4 trillion among 71,000 plans.
The latest cash influx adds to more than $42 million in prior funding rounds and seed capital. Vestwell will also be a retirement plan record keeper available through Morgan Stanley’s workplace business.
The acquisition will leave Empower with a $1.4 trillion defined-contribution business with about 71,000 plans.
Even if participants are automatically enrolled, many said they would also like professional guidance, including advice that goes beyond saving for retirement, J.P. Morgan found in a recent survey.
Koch will pay $4 million in a case alleging excessive record-keeping fees, and Voya reached a confidential agreement in a separate lawsuit. Yum Brands was also sued by a participant who claims he was wrongly classified as an independent contractor and denied retirement benefits.
Policyholders saw an 85% bump in their premiums in 2015, despite assurances when they signed up that rates would not increase.
Sales reps failed to disclose conflicts of interest when recommending rollovers from employer plans to higher-fee managed accounts that often had worse performance, regulators said.
The defendants did not appear to solicit competitive bids for record-keeping services and allowed funds with high revenue-sharing to compensate service providers, according to the complaint.
The firm is buying Austin, Texas-based Trusted Capital Group, which has about 750,000 plan participants in its book of business.
The defendants succeeded in getting the case dismissed in 2018 at the district court level, a decision that was upheld by an appellate court in March 2020.
