Industry Financial Services Founded 1975 | Headquarters Dresher | |
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Products retirement plans; 529 plans; individual retirement accounts; health savings accounts Website | ||
Ascensus, Inc., founded in 1975 and based in Dresher, PA, is a back-office administrator for financial investment firms (offering retirement and college savings plans) and for banking institutions (offering health savings accounts and IRAs). The company is a NAFCU (National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions) Preferred Partner.
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Ascensus provides record-keeping, administrative, and program management services. The company does not offer investment advice.
Retirement Savings
Ascensus is one of the largest independently operated retirement plan service providers in the United States, servicing more than 47,000 retirement plans through various partnerships. The company is focused on giving small businesses the same access to retirement and savings benefits as large-scale corporations. Current institutional partners include LPL Financial, Merrill Lynch, and The Vanguard Group, among others.
In December 2016, Ascensus was chosen to manage the Oregon Retirement Savings Plan, the first state-sponsored retirement savings plan in the country. With it, Oregon aims to cover around 1 million working citizens who are currently not covered by an employer-sponsored retirement plan. This program will launch in summer 2017.
College Savings
In 2013, Ascensus acquired Upromise Investments, Sallie Mae’s 529 college savings plan administrator. This positioned the company to grow within the 529 plan space and resulted in the formation of its Ascensus College Savings division. The company also manages Ugift, its third-party giving program allowing family and friends to transfer money into 529 plans.
In 2015, Ascensus College Savings was selected to manage the Rhode Island state 529 plan, CollegeBoundfund, in partnership with Invesco. In June 2016, Ascensus opened a branch in Warwick, Rhode Island. In 2016, Ascensus College Savings partnered with Wealthfront, an automated investment service, to provide the state of Nevada with a 529 savings plan. This marks the first plan of this type to use an automated investment service.
Health Savings
In the health savings space, the company partnered with Devenir in June 2016 to provide a private-labeled health savings account investment platform to banks and credit unions.
History & Ownership
In 2012, Ascensus acquired ExpertPlan, a New Jersey-based firm.
In 2015, Ascensus was offered for sale by private equity investment firm JC Flowers. In the fourth quarter of 2015, the company was acquired by Genstar Capital and Aquiline Capital Partners.
Ascensus made a series of acquisitions in the fourth quarter of 2016. It began with the acquisition of Retirement Educators in November, followed by the acquisition of National Retirement Services in early December, and ending with the acquisition of Matthews Benefit Group in late December
In 2017, the company plans to open a branch in Tucson, AZ, its first in the West, to support clients on the West Coast.
Ascensus was ranked on the Inc. 5000 for 2015, for 93% growth and revenues of $275M.
Organization
In 2014, the company reorganized into two business divisions, one serving college savings and one serving retirement savings. Both divisions are under the oversight of Bob Guillocheau, president and CEO. Shannon Kelly is president of the retirement division and Jeff Howkins is president of the college savings division.