The Standard crosses $5B in pooled employer plan assets

The Standard Insurance Co. crossed $5 billion in pooled employer plan assets under administration in July, PLANADVISER reported, with its book at 'nearly' $5 billion as of July 28 and a new pooled product for 403(b) nonprofits arriving the same month. The 403(b) product, opened just as the core book neared the threshold, gives the insurer a way to test its ERISA 3(16) partnership model beyond the original partners.

Steve Chappell, assistant vice president of retirement plan sales, credited 'strong market momentum and increasing demand' for the firm's 'fully integrated' PEP solution with fiduciary management and administrative support. The structure traces to the insurer's August 2023 entry after acquiring Securian Financial's retirement plan recordkeeping business, and it now includes pooled plans with Alera Group and other partners, each with The Standard as pooled plan provider and ERISA 3(16) fiduciary.

PLANSPONSOR's 2026 Recordkeeping Survey, published by PLANADVISER's sister publication and fielded in April and May among 36 DC recordkeepers reporting through Dec. 31, 2025, counted 330 PEPs with 10,797 participating employers, more than 1.2 million participants and $34 billion in assets. Voya's $6.198 billion led the year-end standings, followed by Transamerica's $5.353 billion and Principal's $4.684 billion, while Aon's 2026 promotional materials claim more than $6 billion. Those numbers predate The Standard's July report, but they set the bracket: above $5 billion, the insurer belongs among the largest pooled-plan recordkeepers.

The Standard moved from entering the PEP market in 2023 to reporting more than $5 billion in roughly three years, and the named partnership behind that run, Alera Group, comes with ERISA 3(16) duties attached. Pooling assets is the easily copied part of a PEP; standing as the named fiduciary is what gives advisers a reason to choose one provider over another. The July 403(b) launch will show whether that model works beyond the partners who got it to $5 billion. If it does, the $5 billion figure will date quickly.