Defined contribution record-keeping assets surged to a record $5.06 trillion for the 12 months ended Sept. 30, as tracked by Pensions & Investments' annual survey of the largest record keepers.
The latest results represent a 13.7% increase from the year-earlier $4.45 trillion. The number of participants in the latest survey grew to 85.6 million, up from 84.1 million. The latest survey covers 52 record keepers vs. 56 in the previous survey.
Among the very largest companies, there was little change: The eight companies with the most record-keeping assets all posted gains for the survey period, but remained at the same rank as a year earlier.
Among the rest of the top 25, however, there were some big changes in the rankings due to a merger, acquisitions, gains of new clients and organic growth.
Fidelity Investments, Boston, continued its dominance with record-keeping assets of $1.27 trillion a figure that exceeded the combined totals of the next three largest competitors.
Fidelity's 16.73 million participants among record-keeping clients also surpassed the combined participant totals of the next three largest competitors. Fidelity's assets grew 17.1% over the previous year's survey, and the number of participants grew 5.7%.
As for the other largest record keepers, by assets:
nTIAA-CREF, New York, was in second place with $387.9 billion, up 10.8% from $350.1 billion a year earlier;
nAon Hewitt, Lincolnshire, Ill., remained in third with $361.1 billion, up 16.1%. (Unlike the other companies' data, Aon Hewitt's figures for both surveys are based on year-end data.);
nVanguard Group Inc., Malvern, Pa., placed fourth with $339.1 billion, advancing 12.1%;
nING U.S. Retirement Services, Windsor, Conn, held onto fifth place with $325.4 billion, up 8.3%;
nGreat-West Retirement Services, Greenwood Village, Colo., recorded $206.4 billion for sixth place, rising 19%;
nWells Fargo Institutional Retirement and Trust, Charlotte, N.C., held onto seventh place with $192.5 billion, up 13.4%; and
nJ.P. Morgan Retirement Plan Services, New York, remained in eighth place with $163.4 billion, up 14.4%.
Among the remainder of the top 25, only one name was in the same place as a year earlier: Prudential Retirement, a unit of Prudential Financial Inc., Newark, N.J. ranked 13th in both surveys.