Aon registered its pooled employer plan with the Department of Labor and plans to launch it Jan. 1, the company said Thursday.
Two employers will join the plan at its launch, and three others will join by April, said Rick Jones, partner at Aon'sRetirement Solutions.
Mr. Jones declined to identify the employers.
The initial employers, which span the aerospace, chemical, music production, pediatric medicine and petroleum industries, each have $10 million to $100 million in assets under management, but many organizations that Aon has in the pipeline to join the plan are "materially larger than that," Mr. Jones said.
The early adopting employers are in the midsize category "largely given the governance structures that they've got in place to make decisions quickly and move quickly," he said.
The lower cost of running 401(k) plans, along with reduced fiduciary responsibility and less time spent on plan management, compliance and governance, were the top reasons motivating employers to join Aon's PEP, according to Mr. Jones.
Aon will serve as the pooled plan provider with Aon Investment Services USA, the company's investment services group, serving as the 3(38) fiduciary adviser. Voya Financial will serve as the record keeper for the plan.
Aon expects that more than half of U.S. employers will merge traditional 401(k) plans into pooled employer plans in the next decade.
Fourteen other companies have registered with the Department of Labor as pooled plan providers.
