The infrastructure build-out essential for the implementation and adoption of retirement income solutions continued at a frenzied pace in 2024. Defined contribution (DC) retirement income adoption continues to increase. According to LIMRA (Life Insurance Marketing and Research Association), 2024 was the third consecutive year of record-setting annuity sales.[1] The LIMRA data demonstrates that DC plan participants want access to retirement income, but are currently forced to access solutions outside their retirement plan. Retirement income access will continue to expand as more recordkeepers go live with their retirement programs in 2025 and offer robust retirement income solutions for plan participants.
Last year was another busy year for retirement income middle-ware technology and participant experience builds, particularly at SS&C. SS&C’s Retirement Income Clearing & Calculation Platform (RICC) won a NICSA Nova award for Industry Innovation.
Empower's recordkeeping retirement income program recently went live on SS&C’s RICC platform. SS&C’s RICC platform now provides middle-ware technology connections and servicing for multiple retirement income solutions on Empower. Principal’s recordkeeping platform is currently in implementation and is scheduled to go live on RICC in early 2026. The connection of both Empower and Principal recordkeeping will bring the list of recordkeepers connected to SS&C’s RICC platform to six.
The SS&C Retirement Income Solutions team is also proud to announce the planned connection of innovative retirement income solutions from ARS. The first two products that will be added to SS&C’s Retirement Income Clearing and Calculation platform (RICC) are:
- State Street GTC Retirement Income Builder Funds
- Principal LifeTime Income Builder Index Target Date Series
Finally, the team is excited to announce that the Allianz Lifetime Income+® Annuity from Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America (Allianz) is now live on SS&C’s RICC platform. Allianz Lifetime Income+® is now live with a new recordkeeper relationship as well.
2025: Moving From Implementation to Plan Sponsor And Participant Adoption
We expect 2025 to be the year we move toward the availability of retirement income solutions at scale with multiple recordkeepers. Achieving distribution scale and access has been a goal of the DC industry since the introduction of retirement income solutions. We anticipate that additional recordkeepers will follow the lead of their peers and build diverse retirement income programs to meet the needs of their plan sponsor clients and participants. The recordkeepers who have already launched their programs will see increased adoption of these solutions, as they are implemented as both Dynamic Qualified Default Investment Alternatives (QDIAs) and within managed account programs.
As we discussed last year in our "2023 SS&C Retirement Income Review & 2024 Outlook" post, plan sponsor implementation of retirement income as default solutions has quickly become an industry best practice. SS&C’s Jacqueline Rynn testified in October before the DOL’s ERISA Advisory Council on the topic of “Lifetime Income and Qualified Defined Investment Alternatives.” in October. The message she and others from the industry conveyed to the council resonated. The ERISA council recently voted for the DOL to consider adding guidance for plan fiduciaries on the selection, monitoring and participant education for default implementation of retirement income solutions. Regulatory guidance to encourage DC retirement income solutions will continue to be an area of focus for the industry.
Finally, to learn more about the global retirement market, download SS&C’s "Global Retirement Outlook" whitepaper, co-authored with Deloitte. The whitepaper offers valuable research and analysis on the US DC market, as well as trends in Australia and the UK. SS&C recently hosted a “The Global Retirement Industry: Key Trends, Insights, and Strategies for Staying Ahead” webinar in which key takeaways from the whitepaper were shared. Watch the on-demand "The Global Retirement Industry: Key Trends, Insights and Strategies for Staying Ahead" webinar to learn more. Global retirement systems can learn from and support each other as we work to expand access and improve participant retirement preparedness.
Allianz Lifetime Income+® Annuity issued by Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America 5701 Golden Hills Drive, Minneapolis, MN 55416-1297 (C64712-MVA). Product and feature availability may vary by state and plan. Content related to Allianz Lifetime Income+® Annuity does not apply in the state of New York.
Allianz Lifetime Income+® is a fixed index annuity. Fixed index annuities are designed to meet long-term needs for retirement income. They provide guarantees against the loss of principal and credited interest as well as the reassurance of a death benefit for beneficiaries.
|
• Not FDIC insured • May lose value • No bank or credit union guarantee
• Not a deposit • Not insured by any federal government agency or NCUA/NCUSIF
|
Guarantees are backed solely by the financial strength and claims-paying ability of the issuing company.
Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America and SS&C Technologies are not affiliated companies.
[1] SS&C uses the mature retail annuity market data as a proxy for demand potential. https://www.limra.com/en/newsroom/news-releases/2025/limra-2024-retail-annuity-sales-power-to-a-record-$432.4-billion.
