Ropes & Gray Represents Fidelity Investments In Creation of Portability Services Network, LLC, A Consortium Of Workplace Retirement Plan Recordkeepers

Ropes & Gray represented Fidelity Investments in its collaboration with Vanguard, Alight Solutions and Retirement Clearinghouse, LLC (RCH) to create a consortium of workplace retirement plan recordkeepers, Portability Services Network, LLC (PSN), which aims to accelerate the nationwide adoption of auto portability. The consortium was announced on Oct. 5 in a press release.

The auto portability service utilized by PSN will allow American workers with workplace retirement account balances of less than $5,000 – the focus of the auto portability service – who change employers to have their workplace retirement savings (such as 401(k)s) automatically move to their new retirement plans, benefitting workers by mitigating cash-out leakage and improving their retirement outcomes. PSN will be majority owned by RCH and, in addition to Fidelity, Vanguard and Alight, is designed to include up to three additional major recordkeepers as owners. PSN's owners will govern the network as an industry utility designed with the goal of operating at the lowest cost to workers participating in auto portability.

“We were honored to help launch an industry-led auto-portability consortium aimed at improving retirement outcomes,” said Jeff Katz, co-head of Ropes & Gray’s global capital solutions and private credit practice. “The consortium will help mitigate cash-out leakage and preserve trillions of dollars in savings in the U.S. retirement system. Most importantly, it will protect workers’ retirement savings, particularly benefiting diverse communities, women, and low-income workers.”

This Ropes & Gray team effort was delivered by private equity partners Jeff Katz and Patrick Dorime and associate Jeremy Zucker, IP transactions counsel Emily Karlberg, litigation & enforcement partner Samer Musallam, benefits partner Josh Lichtenstein and tax partner Pam Glazier. The team also included private equity associates Casey Seivright, Neil Stocco and Alondra Nin Rivera, IP transactions associate Jacob Green, data practice associate Jessica Grischkan, benefits associate Reagan Haas, and tax associate Ningzhou Shen.