Voya offers nonqualified deferred comp plan for small businesses

Voya has once again broadened its array of retirement plan solutions with the introduction of a new nonqualified deferred compensation plan offering for key employees at small businesses.

Voya Financial Inc. announced its latest NQDC solution, Business-ready, specifically for smaller businesses seeking to differentiate themselves with executive benefits.

The move builds on Voya's substantial growth in the NQDC market segment, where the company has experienced a significant uptick in plan sales, soaring 117 percent year-on-year in 2023.

Kirk Penland, senior vice president of nonqualified markets at Voya, emphasized the importance of flexibility in executive benefit solutions, with a gap in the market for smaller employers.

“[O]ur new Business-ready offering provides those employers with an opportunity to offer a successful NQDC offering, without the complexities of a tailored solution that many larger companies seek today,” Penland said in a statement.

While the new solution is available to any 409(a) company, the company says it is designed specifically for those with fewer than 400 employees as it provides for easier plan management.

With a pre-built investment lineup that includes 21 asset categories, including equities, fixed income, and alternatives like real estate, Voya says it helps participants diversify through various target-date series without running up against the paradox of choice.

The offering also includes a more streamlined architecture of plan design choices and funding options, including mutual funds and corporate life insurance, as well as flexible contribution and distribution schedules.

Voya’s new product comes at a time when more businesses are looking at NQDC plans as a lure for top talent, with recent research by Plan Sponsor Council of America finding that 80 percent of employers now seeing the “top hat” plans as sweeteners for their executive benefit packages.

NQDC plans may be especially tempting for execs, Penland says, as they avoid the contribution caps that make traditional retirement plans a poor fit for them.

"Because a NQDC plan can help address their needs, these options are becoming increasingly popular across the industry and even more so among our existing clients at Voya," Penland said.

Voya’s expansion into innovative NQDC solutions follows other recent efforts to lead in the retirement plan space, including a suite of NQDC distribution portfolios and a dual qualified default investment alternative for retirement plan members.