Pontera | Policy Center

Despite decades of innovation in retirement plans, a critical gap remains: millions of Americans are left without the personalized guidance they need to make confident, long-term financial decisions.

It’s time to close that gap. Regulators, policymakers, and industry must work together to ensure every participant has the right to advice that meets the complexity of their lives.

Supporting access to personalized advice through the retirement plan system aligns with the missions of the SEC, FINRA, and DOL—to protect investors, uphold market integrity, and strengthen retirement outcomes. It’s a smart policy move that strengthens the whole ecosystem.

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Key facts about Pontera

Pontera democratizes access to 401(k) advice

Our company: Pontera is a technology platform that enables financial advisors to provide a more holistic service by managing their clients’ workplace retirement accounts.

Pontera is a vendor, not an adviser: Pontera does not provide investment advice, analysis, or recommendations. Advisers use Pontera to carry out their own advice for their clients.

Pontera is a service provider to the adviser, not the 401(k) plan: Consistent with decades of industry practice, financial advisers use Pontera to provide individualized advice to 401(k) participants, not to the 401(k) plan.

Pontera is consumer-authorized: Pontera requires consumer authorization to facilitate its service for advisers, just like tools millions of Americans use to file taxes, build a budget, apply for a loan, or share information with their adviser.

Advisers have used client-authorized tools for decades: For at least twenty-five years, advisers have used tools like data aggregators which clients authorize to use their credentials to facilitate a service.

Advisors never have client credentials and don’t access client accounts: Advisors only interact with Pontera’s platform, ensuring that they never see or access client credentials, and never access client accounts at custodian or recordkeeper websites.

All adviser activities on Pontera are auditable: Because advisers need to keep records, all adviser activities on Pontera create an auditable, immutable record.
Pontera maintains leading cybersecurity: To keep client information and accounts secure, Pontera maintains industry-leading cybersecurity standards and certifications. Learn more at our Trust Center.

Consumers’ right to 401(k) advice

Americans need holistic advice to prepare for retirement

Background: America’s defined contribution system places the responsibility on the individual for funding their own retirement. But historically Americans have struggled to get advice from their trusted financial advisor, because their 401(k) accounts are tied to their employer, and separate from the rest of their finances. In order for plan participants to receive truly holistic advice on their unique financial situations, their financial advisors must have the ability to manage their 401(k) accounts.

Why It Matters: The median American household with retirement accounts holds almost half their net worth in those accounts. Research shows professionally managed and advice-driven solutions can improve savings behavior and portfolio quality, particularly for participants who are “off track.” Although plans offer managed accounts and professionally managed allocations, many Americans have a trusted financial advisor who is not affiliated with their 401(k) provider. Plan participants should have a right to advice through a financial advisor of their choosing, and advisors should have the ability to manage their clients’ accounts in a holistic manner.

Alternative investments in 401(k)s

401(k)s are getting complicated. Advice is more necessary than ever.

Background: As 401(k)s evolve to include alternative investment options like private equity and real estate, plan participants will face more complex asset classes with nuanced risk-return profiles, fees, and liquidity constraints. With more options for choice, individuals risk misallocating, underutilizing, or misunderstanding these new investment alternatives. Mistakes could be detrimental to an individual's retirement portfolio over the long term, undermining their chance for success in retirement.

Why It Matters: Advisors are uniquely positioned to provide education, risk assessment, and personalized asset allocation. This is especially crucial as plan participants will continue to encounter non-traditional assets in their retirement mix. When advisers have a more complete picture of a client’s overall portfolio, wealth, and retirement goals, they are an important link to helping 401(k) participants manage their retirement savings and investments as a whole. More than ever, investors should have the ability to seek professional advice to integrate employer plans into their broader financial goals.

Why advice in 401(k)s is necessary

The Case for Choice

Background: The 401(k) is unique among financial accounts, because people can’t choose who holds their assets - their employer does. They also can’t move their money without quitting or retiring. This creates an effective monopoly for the 401(k) provider over its participants’ retirement assets, where participants can't switch providers if they’re not happy with the service (they can invest in an IRA, but this often forgoes the tax incentives and other benefits like contribution levels of the 401(k)). When it comes time for advice, some recordkeepers offer paid services like managed accounts, or their own advisers. But this can create incentives for recordkeepers to disrupt participants who seek to work with competing advisers.

Why It Matters: Consumer choice is not baked-in to the 401(k) system. Policymakers and industry need to make decisions that support consumer choice - starting with the decision that a consumer can choose which adviser they want to work with. The only alternative is shutting down competition.

Open banking and data sharing

Consumers should control their own data

Background: Financial planning is a data-driven exercise, and the key ingredient is the ability to aggregate financial information from across a person’s holistic financial life. The 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act included Section 1033, which provides consumers the right to access their financial information in a digital form from their financial institutions. For at least 25 years, participants have used tools to aggregate information into a dashboard for financial planning, or otherwise connect their accounts to third-party tools that help them make financial decisions.

Why it Matters: Starting in 2018, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau undertook a Consumer Financial Data Rights rulemaking. A final rule was published in 2024, but banks immediately sued the government, and then took steps to charge consumers for access to their own information. Regulators and policymakers clearly support access to financial data, as an exercise in improving competition and innovation in financial services.

Cybersecurity and data privacy

Bank-level security ensures consumers are always protected

Background: Pontera follows a Defense in Depth strategy, based on the principle that no single layer of protection is sufficient. By applying multiple layers of control, we build resilience across every part of our environment. Pontera is certified under ISO/IEC 27001, 27017, and 27018, and undergoes an annual SOC 2 Type II audit carried out by EY (Ernst & Young), a globally recognized independent auditor.

Why it Matters: We understand that the threat landscape is constantly evolving, so we continuously monitor and review our risk management strategies to ensure they remain effective and aligned with industry best practices. Pontera follows a strict data minimization principle, limiting the storage or processing of customer data by third parties unless absolutely necessary. When integration is required, we enforce strong safeguards—such as access scoping, encryption, masking, monitoring, and audit logging—to minimize exposure.

Account aggregation technology

Data aggregation is the norm of modern financial services operations

The financial services industry is increasingly becoming digitized. Americans expect to have the ability to choose where they keep their money, how they move it, and who they share it with. Financial technology companies have evolved to offer more personalized financial tools compared to traditional financial institutions, and consumers expect minimal financial restrictions.

Pontera uses “account aggregation” technology to power its services, a technology and process that is ubiquitous in the financial services industry. This technology is crucial in enabling trusted advisers to offer holistic investment strategies and advice to their clients, while avoiding the downsides of status-quo alternatives. While many account aggregation companies focus on deposit accounts, industry-wide standards have continued to develop, and the most recent standards now include investment account information as well.

A Consumer-Centric Retirement System

Read the whitepaper authored by Lisa M. Gomez, former Assistant Secretary of Labor for Employee Benefits Security at the US Department of Labor, about unlocking holistic retirement planning while safeguarding consumer data.

Download the whitepaper

Closing the gap

Americans retirement savings are often siloed from savers’ larger portfolios, making it difficult to plan holistically. The shift from pensions to Defined Contribution plans has created a structural gap that leaves millions without the personalized advice they need.

Read the whitepaper below to explore how policymakers and the industry can close the advice gap and strengthen retirement outcomes for all.

Download the whitepaper