BPAS is pleased to roll out the second version of the Quarterly Plan Review Report (QPRR), which replaces the Annual Plan Review Report through an improved quarterly format. While this quarter’s version is approximately 17 pages in length, the QPRR will be continuously expanded in coming quarters. To see the QPRR, please see the plan sponsor website Resource Center (then Plan Information and Reports, Quarterly Plan Reports, select the current plan year and most recent quarter). In addition, the Fund Performance Grid is a useful tool for reviewing fund performance over time. It can be found in the Education section of the Resource Center (plan sponsor and participant websites). We hope clients find these tools useful in the ongoing management of their retirement plan.

New Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rules regarding money market funds will take effect in October, 2016. The impact of these new rules is that certain money market funds will become subject to “gating” (which can limit their ability to support redemptions on a given day). As such, these money market funds will no longer be suitable investments for daily valued defined contribution plans and have been replaced with a Government equivelant that is not subject to “Gating”. An Updated 404a(5) Notice has been prepared for all applicable clients regarding this transition. To see this notice, Please visit the participant or sponsor website Resource Center.

Recently we have made significant upgrades to our participant website. As a result of these upgrades, a small percentage of users may experience minor issues upon accessing the upgraded site for the first time. If you experience any issues with the upgraded site, please reference this troubleshooting guide.

BPAS is pleased to roll out a sneak preview of our enhanced participant website, which will be implemented over the next two weeks. This is phase two of a four part web initiative currently underway, which began with launch of the Participant Education Center in December. The new site is very intuitive and will not require much explanation for participants. Highlights include an improved overall look; moving to a panel / widget concept for easy navigation; adding a 5 year balance history chart; adding a direct link to find participant statements and the Guidance Plus™ planning tool; an enhanced participant messaging area; much better integration with the Participant Education Center and Market Dashboard; and improvements to the look of many pages and reports. We are excited about these enhancements, and look forward to making additional upgrades later this year.

To view the sneak preview, please click here.

To showcase the features of the new PEC to participants, plan sponsors and financial intermediary partners, we are pleased to roll out this multimedia video.