The Big I Selects Ascensus As Its New Retirement Plan Solutions Provider

Business Editors/Insurance Writers

DRESHER, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--November 6, 2008--Ascensus, the nation’s largest recordkeeper and administrator for retirement plans in the micro to large market segments and a leading provider of regulatory expertise, plan document services and participant enrollment support, has been selected by Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers Association of America (the Big “I”) to act as the endorsed retirement plan solutions provider for its qualified member retirement program. Founded in 1896, the Big “I” is the nation’s oldest and largest association of independent insurance agents and brokers, representing a national alliance of 300,000 business owners and their employees.

While more than 100 plans converted to Ascensus in September, both organizations anticipate accelerated plan sales among Big “I” insurance agency members and their clients resulting from this new partnership. The Big “I” will leverage Ascensus’ award-wining service model as well as their sales and marketing resources to drive new sales and increase plan participation.

“The Big “I” is unique in that its retirement plan solutions are delivered exclusively to meet the needs of member agencies and their clients,” commented Charlie Wenzel, senior vice president business development, Ascensus. “This enables us to deliver a precisely targeted campaign to expand Big “I” member agencies using the program for their plans as well as their clients’ plans.”

“The benefit of having a retirement plan with the Big “I” is that we know our clients’ businesses and their need to use retirement plans to meet a number of objectives such as employee recruitment and retention, agency perpetuation and income tax planning,” explained Dave Evans, Big “I” senior vice president of retirement and financial planning. “The added advantage we get from a collaboration with Ascensus is access to their extensive resources to serve our member base and the needs of our members’ clients. Following an extensive RFP process, Ascensus’ high quality services and proven industry record and readiness to launch a strategic outreach program were unmatched.”

About Ascensus

With nearly 30 years of industry experience, Ascensus provides high-quality solutions for every segment of the retirement marketplace. As the nation’s largest recordkeeper and administrator for retirement plans in the micro to large market segments and a leading provider of regulatory expertise, plan document services and participant enrollment support, Ascensus services over 26,000 defined contribution plans and nearly 1.5 million employees, with more than $33 billion in assets under administration. The company’s core capabilities encompass every component of a sophisticated retirement infrastructure, including administration, recordkeeping, ERISA consulting, compliance and sales support, trust and custody services, multilingual participant education programs, training and documentation. These solutions are offered with the open architecture investment capabilities that can be tailored to support the needs of institutional retirement plan providers, third party administrators, financial advisors and their clients. For more information, visit www.ascensus.com.

About the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers Association of America

Founded in 1896, the Big “I” is the nation’s oldest and largest national association of independent insurance agents and brokers, representing a network of more than 300,000 agents, brokers and their employees nationally. Its members are businesses that offer customers a choice of policies from a variety of insurance companies. Independent agents and brokers offer all lines of insurance—property, casualty, life, health, employee benefit plans and retirement products. Web address: www.independentagent.com.