Morgan Stanley at Work announced today a strategic partnership with Empower Retirement that provides a modern, comprehensive workplace retirement offering for employers who want to attract and retain top talent through benefits. The partnership is an expansion of both firms’ long-standing relationship, leveraging Morgan Stanley’s investment services experience and Empower’s comprehensive and leading-edge technology and product and service capabilities.

“We are pleased to continue to strengthen our relationship with Empower and to reimagine the retirement space—giving employers the services they need under one roof, while also helping employees to achieve the best possible outcomes for their financial futures,” said Brian McDonald, Co-head of Morgan Stanley at Work. “Morgan Stanley at Work and Empower currently have thousands of mutual clients and we expect that number to grow significantly through this expanded partnership.”

Highlights of the partnership will include:

• Combined access to Morgan Stanley at Work’s stock plan administration services and Empower’s growing retirement plan market share;
• Access to cobranded digital-forward solutions and capabilities;
• Streamlined administration for plan sponsors and Financial Advisors;
• Fund selection driven by the Morgan Stanley Global Investment Manager Analysis (GIMA) team; and
• Favorable administrative pricing terms through Morgan Stanley.

Richard Linton, President of Workplace Solutions for Empower Retirement, said, “Our clients are consistently looking for innovative ways to engage with their employees. Our utmost priority is providing retirement plans that meet their needs, and are intuitive, user-friendly and outcome oriented. By combining our modern, cutting-edge technology and platform with Morgan Stanley at Work—in our view, the only provider in the market offering a truly holistic and differentiated digital experience—this is a win-win strategy for our clients and their participants.”

The Empower partnership will expand Morgan Stanley at Work’s ability to serve advisor-sold plans under $50 million in assets with comprehensive retirement solutions to attract and retain talent. The partnership with Empower comes shortly after Morgan Stanley at Work announced a business partnership and strategic investment with Vestwell to serve small retirement plans, demonstrating its commitment to innovation and thoughtful disruption in the workplace wealth space.

Morgan Stanley at Work’s Retirement Solutions offers a flexible, multi-provider recordkeeper platform designed to meet the individual needs of companies. In addition to providing customized retirement solutions, Morgan Stanley at Work has dedicated retirement specialists that understand the challenges businesses face and offer support and service for their employees. Through a consultative process, the Firm’s retirement specialists help companies improve plan competitiveness and fiduciary risk management, investment selection and monitoring, and employee retirement readiness.

Retirement Solutions is part of the Morgan Stanley at Work suite of financial solutions, which spans Equity Compensation through Shareworks and E*TRADE Equity Edge Online, Retirement and Financial Wellness Solutions. Morgan Stanley at Work combines cutting-edge planning and risk management software, Morgan Stanley intellectual capital and financial education delivered through multiple channels to help employees to build a holistic plan to achieve their financial goals. Employee stock plan solutions, including Equity Edge Online, are part of the Morgan Stanley at Work solutions and are offered by E*TRADE Financial Corporate Services, Inc. Morgan Stanley at Work currently has offices in the U.S., Canada, Europe and Asia Pacific.

About Empower Retirement

Headquartered in metro Denver, Empower Retirement administers approximately $1.1 trillion in assets for more than 12.6 million retirement plan participants as of June 30, 2021.¹ It is the nation’s second-largest retirement plan recordkeeper by total participants.² Empower serves all segments of the employer-sponsored retirement plan market: government 457 plans; small, midsize and large corporate 401(k) clients; not-for-profit 403(b) entities; Taft-Hartley plans; private-label recordkeeping clients; and IRA and brokerage customers. Personal Capital, a subsidiary of Empower Retirement, is an industry-leading hybrid wealth manager. For more information please visit empower-retirement.com.

¹As of June 30, 2021. Information refers to the business of Great-West Life & Annuity Insurance Company and its subsidiaries, including Great-West Life & Annuity Insurance Company of New York and GWFS Equities, Inc. GWLA’s consolidated total assets under administration (AUA) were $1,131B. AUA is a non-GAAP measure and does not reflect the financial stability or strength of a company. GWLA’s statutory assets total $75.2B and liabilities total $73.3B. GWLANY statutory assets total $3.5B and liabilities total $3.3B.

²Pensions & Investments 2020 Defined Contribution Survey Ranking as of April 2021.

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About Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) is a leading global financial services firm providing investment banking, securities, investment management and wealth management services. With offices in more than 41 countries, the Firm's employees serve clients worldwide including corporations, governments, institutions and individuals. For more information about Morgan Stanley, please visit www.morganstanley.com.

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