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    The dynamics of the retirement plan landscape are shifting rapidly. Now more than ever, plan sponsors and participants are demanding higher levels of service and technology, while at the same time expressing increasing concern over cybersecurity threats and fraudulent distributions. As you probably have experienced, these ‘demands’ from clients have become ‘expectations’, making it even more challenging to add value.

    This environment creates added pressure on the resources and profit margins for Third Party Administrators (TPAs) and small recordkeepers across the industry. So how do you solve it? You could certainly add more in-house talent to your bench to help elevate the service you can provide. You could also consider building the IT infrastructure necessary to stay on top of the evolving experience demands of clients and the cybersecurity threats of criminals. These options, however, require a considerable investment both monetarily and through resource allocation. This just isn’t feasible for many organizations.

    So, how are successful TPAs effectively meeting these needs and growing their business? Ultimately, it’s all about leveraging technology to create efficiencies and scale offerings.

    A solution to consider:

    Improved Participant Distributions                      

    At a recent conference that PensionPro attended, participant distributions and the associated risk of fraud and overall lack of profitability seemed to be a very hot topic in the presentations and breakout groups. It was obvious that, given the increased scrutiny required to ward off fraudsters, distribution processing was becoming increasingly unprofitable. However, moving too fast could expose participant accounts to fraudulent activity by not having the time to employ proper due diligence.

    This is an opportunity to leverage technology and employ outsourced expertise to help solve the problem. Or as our tagline has always said; evolve the way you work! As we announced earlier this year, PensionPro has become part of the Mid Atlantic group of companies. Integrating with larger platforms has always been a focus of PensionPro, as it solves problems for our clients by reducing risks and processing time.

    For instance, Mid Atlantic Trust Company provides a Participant Distribution Solution that not only increases the speed of participant distributions, but even more importantly, has controls in place to help mitigate fraud. Of course, Mid Atlantic’s services are not just available to PensionPro clients. Our planned integration will allow for seamless processing between our systems, giving our clients the ability to outsource processing while being able to monitor the process through PensionPro. Mid Atlantic’s Participant Distribution Solution leverages industry-leading technology to identify red flags, such as transfers to newly opened bank accounts or funds being transferred to accounts where the registrations don’t match. This entire process is completed with a full audit trail, proving a level of security that will provide our clients with some peace of mind.

    Without reinventing the wheel or exposing the participants to unnecessary risk, you can address one of the most common pain points of clients, which drives significant value.

    “Participant distribution services are a great, inexpensive way, to drive efficiency for your business while providing transparency and security to your clients,” said Keith Vukmir, Director of Institutional Retirement Sales at Mid Atlantic Trust Company.

    Evolve The Way You Work

    I once heard someone say, ‘most passengers don’t want to know how to build a plane, they just want it to get them to their destination safely.’ The same can be said for sponsors and participants. They want the security of knowing that their retirement plan is being administered with the highest level of care. Yet they are also looking for the smoothest ride and the best experience.

    The good news is that you don’t have to recreate the wheel — or the plane for that matter — to get them there. Valuable tools are available to help you further instill confidence with your clients and address some of the industry’s leading challenges.

    Leveraging technology to help improve the efficiency and scalability of your business, allows your talented employees to spend more time providing the highest level of service to your clients. TPAs that adopt this mindset are more likely to experience a trajectory that propels them to new heights in the industry while many others are struggling just to stay in the air.

    Interested in learning more about Mid Atlantic’s Participant Distribution Solution? Join us for a free demo on November 30th to see what it’s all about.

    Register here.