New brand to have immediate presence on retirement landscape and symbolize "a new era" for plan sponsors and millions of participants nationwide
GREENWOOD VILLAGE, Colo., October 30, 2014 — Great-West Financial, the second largest retirement services provider in the U.S. market with nearly 7 million defined contribution participants and more than $400 billion in plan assets, today announced that its retirement business will officially be named "Empower," effective immediately. http://www.empower-retirement.com/
"The Empower brand name will represent our company in all forms of communication with the marketplace, and more importantly, it symbolizes a new era in retirement services," said Robert L. Reynolds, President and CEO of Great-West Financial.
Empower is the retirement services business of Great-West Financial®, which recently completed its acquisition of the J.P. Morgan Retirement Plan Services large-market recordkeeping business and is integrating the retirement business of Putnam Investments. The organization serves every segment of the employer-sponsored retirement plan market: small, midsize, and large corporate 401(k) clients, government 457 plans and non-profit 403(b) entities, as well as private label recordkeeping clients.
Further discussing the brand, Reynolds said, "All of our experience and research points to one simple fact: Plan sponsors and their participants want — and need — to be engaged in driving desired outcomes for their retirement plans and their families' futures. As a firm, we will channel our resources, expertise and scale to provide employers and their employees with information they need to make good decisions and the ability to execute on those decisions. We believe that in order to best address the retirement savings challenge in America, the name of the game in the years to come is empowerment."
"This is what we stand for and what we will bring to our clients," Reynolds explained.
Last month, Edmund F. Murphy III was named to lead Great-West Financial's newly combined and expanded retirement organization. Commenting on the business's new brand, Murphy, President of Empower, said, "In addition to our developing and delivering premier, comprehensive retirement services, we want to send a very clear message to the marketplace on the multi-faceted and highly supportive partnership they can count on from our firm."
"In particular, advisors and consultants will be able to expect — and receive — a range of unique solutions-oriented capabilities to help their businesses and clients. For their part, plan sponsors and their employees will benefit from a highly customized, intuitive experience designed to help them steer toward stronger, more successful retirement preparedness," Murphy emphasized.
Murphy indicated that Empower's core emphasis on commitment to highly innovative retirement products and services, leading-edge thought leadership and setting the gold-standard on service will be the bedrock upon which the brand is built. "Our value proposition in the marketplace is that we will bring all of our resources to bear to help advisors, consultants, plan sponsors and their employees think about retirement in new ways and 'empower' them with a series of forward-thinking resources, information and intuitive tools to achieve higher levels of success."
"Ultimately, the new name captures our philosophy and what we hope to deliver as a retirement services provider," Murphy added. He pointed out that the Empower logo will include an iconic flowing flag that represents the firm's focus on serving the dynamic retirement needs of Americans coast-tocoast.
According to Murphy, clients and the broader marketplace will begin to see the Empower name through a range of direct communications, web presence, social media and print and online advertising.
About Great-West Financial
Great-West Financial® is a registered mark of Great-West Life & Annuity Insurance Company.
Headquartered in metro Denver, Great-West Financial administers $431 billion in assets for its nearly
7.5 million retirement, insurance and annuity customers.
Great-West Financial is the nation's second-largest retirement plan record keeper by total participants (Spectrem Group, Aug. 31, 2014) and the No. 1 underwriter of life insurance sold through banks (BISRA Life Report, Second Quarter 2014, based on total premiums at June 30, 2014). It is an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of Great-West Lifeco Inc. and "A Member of the Power Financial Corporation Group of Companies"®.
Great-West Financial® refers to products and services provided by Great-West Life & Annuity Insurance Company (GWL&A), Corporate Headquarters: Greenwood Village, CO, its subsidiaries and affiliates. Data on insurance and recordkeeping reflects consolidated information from GWL&A and its subsidiaries. The trademarks, logos, and registered marks used are owned by GWL&A. "A Member of the Power Financial Corporation Group of Companies" is the registered mark of Power Corporation of Canada.
Media Contacts:
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Jon Goldstein – Office: 617-760-1127; Cell: 516-946-5598; jon_goldstein@putnam.com Laura McNamara – Office: 617-760-1108; Cell: 978-505-0524; laura_mcnamara@putnam.com |