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Great-West Financial® builds upon retirement services leadership in government markets

Firm announces two new clients and renewal of five public plans

GREENWOOD VILLAGE, Colo., Aug. 5, 2014 — Great-West Financial®, an established leader in providing retirement services to a wide range of government-sponsored plans, today announced that it has signed the City and County of Broomfield and the City of Longmont, Colo., as new clients. Additionally, the firm indicated that Los Angeles and Orange counties; the State of Montana; the Municipality of Anchorage, Alaska; and the territory of Guam have renewed their retirement plan contracts.

“Great-West Financial is pleased to bring its breadth of capabilities and expertise to bear for these prestigious public clients,” said Robert L. Reynolds, President and CEO, Great-West Financial. “Our firm has a long, proud history of serving the retirement needs of a wide range of plans in government markets — and we fully expect this business to be an important facet of our broader, integrated Great-West Financial retirement business in the years ahead.”     

Early this fall, the retirement business of Putnam Investments and J.P. Morgan’s large-plan retirement plan services division will be combined with that of Great-West Financial to create one of the nation’s leading providers of comprehensive retirement services capabilities to small, midsize and large corporate 401(k) clients, government 457 plans and non-profit 403(b) entities. The combined retirement business will reside within Great-West Financial.

Reynolds noted that Great-West Financial is one of the largest providers of retirement services to government plan sponsors in the United States. 

In discussing the announcement, Brent Neese, Vice President of Government Markets for Great-West Financial, said, “We are highly committed to partnering closely with this impressive slate of new and existing public plan sponsors to help their employees plan for a dignified and secure retirement.”

Neese indicated the following key developments:

  • Los Angeles County renewed its 457(b) and 401(k) plans, and Orange County renewed its 457(b) plan — both with five-year contracts. The two Southern California clients have more than $10 billion in assets and nearly 150,000 participants. Los Angeles County has been a client with Great-West Financial since 1997 and Orange County since 2001. The effective date for both was July 1.
  • The State of Montana renewed its 457(b) and 401(a) plans for five years. The state, which has been working with Great-West Financial since 1997, has more than $550 million in assets and over 14,000 participants in its two defined contribution plans. The renewal date was July 1.    
  • The territory of Guam signed a new five-year contract with Great-West Financial to administer its 457(b) and 401(a) plans, which include nearly $425 million in assets and nearly 14,000 participants. Guam has been a client of Great-West Financial for over 18 years. The renewal date is Aug. 19.
  • The Municipality of Anchorage signed a five-year extension with Great-West Financial to administer its 457(b) plan with nearly $225 million in assets and just over 1,850 participants. The municipality has been with Great-West Financial for 17 years. The renewal was effective July 1.

Neese also noted two new client relationships in the Government Markets arena. The Colorado-based City and County of Broomfield and the City of Longmont have $80 million and $65 million in assets, respectively. Broomfield brings 600 participants and Longmont 780 participants. Broomfield joined Great-West Financial July 1 and Longmont joined the company Aug. 1.

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 $243.5 billion in assets for its 5.4 million retirement, insurance and annuity customers.

Great-West Financial is the nation’s second largest underwriter of life insurance sold through banks (BISRA Life Report, Fourth Quarter 2013, based on total premiums at Dec. 31, 2013) and fourth-largest retirement plan record keeper (PLANSPONSOR, June 2014, based on total participant accounts at Dec. 31, 2013). 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. Recordkeeping information and rankings reflect all recordkeeping customers of GWL&A subsidiary FASCore, LLC: those of institutional partners, third-party administrator clients and Great-West Financial. 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.


Contact:

Molly Schlax
FleishmanHillard
O: 312-729-3661
M: 847-309-9552
Molly.Schlax@fleishman.com		 Lisa Gigax
Director, Corporate Communications
Great-West Financial
O: (303) 737-6290
lisa.gigax@greatwest.com