Axis Retirement Analytic Platform
Chicago, IL (PRWEB) June 25, 2014
Regulations introduced by the Department of Labor in 2012 require all businesses providing retirement planning services to fully disclose their retirement plan fees, compensation and services provided to plan fiduciaries. Despite the strain in resources these regulations have caused for many businesses, over 100 Castle Rock Innovations clients were able to meet these requirements ahead of schedule in 2014 by automating the process using the AXIS Retirement Analytics Solution.
Since the regulatory requirement went into effect in 2012, covered service providers are required to comply with the regulatory disclosures on an annual basis and in advance for any new contract or arrangement with a plan sponsor. The regulation also mandates these service providers need to produce updated disclosures within 60 days of any material changes to the plan. In March of 2014, the DOL also proposed an amendment to the 408(b)(2) regulations to provide a “roadmap” guide. These annual disclosures, the required monitoring of plans for changes, updates to the construct of the disclosures and the process of re-disclosure has added much more manual overhead for many firms.
Michael Marr, COO and President of Castle Rock Innovations, Inc. says “We have been managing our clients compliance related services for more than 3 years through our AXIS Solution by creating a zero touch environment. We have created the industry’s most sophisticated data aggregation engine with automated connection to the largest providers allowing our clients to identify all of their plans and automate the disclosure creation, management and distribution. We like our clients to focus on growing their business. As of today all of our clients have been up to date on their disclosures and are working with us on the next steps of growing their book of business using our real time benchmarking tools.”
Castle Rock’s AXIS Solution allows for clients to customize their 408(b)(2) and 404a-5 templates and manages them systematically. Clients’ custom templates can be configured and be ready to use in less than 3 weeks. The solution provides detailed reports and auditing of any changes to plan, templates and a system for all plans. AXIS stores the entire produced disclosures document in the client’s digital locker for future reference. All disclosures can be produced online in real time or using the bulk disclosures mechanism for distribution to client portals or 3rd party channels.
“With DOL becoming more aggressive on their audits, we felt that the entire process should be standardized, streamlined and automated. Our clients frequently connect with each other through our client advisory group to share thoughts or best practices. This becomes critical as parts of disclosures become confusing or left for interpretation. We maintain the compliance and all compliance related changes for our clients in one central location and proactively monitor the plans to notify our clients of their required disclosure due date (such as the 60 days rule)” added Michael Marr about the AXIS Solution.
About Castle Rock Innovations and AXIS
Castle Rock Innovations has been serving the financial industry for over 20 years by providing clients with technology that improves efficiency and creates value. In anticipation of 401(k) fee disclosure regulations that were introduced in 2012 by the Department of Labor, Castle Rock innovations developed the AXIS Retirement Analytics Platform™, a real-time, web-based platform that allows broker-dealers, record keepers, banks and third party administrators to view their entire retirement book of business in one location and manage their compliance and operations. Today the AXIS Retirement Analytics Platform™ is an industry leading product used by 13 of the top 20 broker dealers in the nation and more than 105 clients, which include some of the largest TPAs and Record Keeping firms. AXIS currently has automated connectivity to over 75+ Record Keepers and Insurance companies and provides a zero touch automated solution to the largest data sources.
Castle Rock Innovations Inc. is a privately owned and operated corporation with headquarters in Chicago Illinois and offices throughout. Our company has been recognized by Inc500 as one of the fasted growing private companies. http://www.axisretirement.com