Gayathri Somanath

We’re excited to announce new platform features focused on the Retirement sector, including a robust sponsor onboarding experience, universal compatibility for TPA and recordkeeping systems, and expanded data fields. These features will enable TPAs and recordkeepers to adopt Finch out of the box with their current workflow and systems without any engineering effort, allowing them to work more efficiently, eliminate administrative bottlenecks, and reduce overhead costs while focusing on delivering best-in-class service to plan sponsors.

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Recordkeepers and TPAs need reliable access to timely, accurate, and standardized employer data, but for decades, the primary means of collecting this information has been through SFTP connections or manual processes. Both methods are time-consuming, costly, and impossible to scale, and retirement providers feel the strain. A 2024 survey conducted by the SPARK Institute found that 93% of recordkeepers view payroll integrations as important, a view that’s supported by their survey data for the last 3 years.

Our platform offers an alternative. By bridging the gap between plan management platforms and sponsors’ payroll systems, recordkeepers and TPAs are able to securely, easily, and automatically access census and payroll data directly from the employer’s source of truth. 

Finch is the industry leader with the most extensive payroll provider network, covering 80% of U.S. employers. Our automated data refresh and 360° payroll integration capabilities streamline deduction management, while our secure, scalable API infrastructure meets SOC2 and HIPAA compliance standards — enabling recordkeepers and TPAs to confidently manage payroll data and expand effortlessly.

Our years of experience in the Retirement sector have shaped the features we built specifically for this industry. Finch is already used by more than 40 leading recordkeepers and TPAs, including Nova 401(k) Associates, Ameritas, ePlan (Paychex), Human Interest, and Betterment. Our platform serves 45,000+ employers and more than 5 million employees, establishing Finch as the trusted choice for seamless payroll connectivity.

Today, we’re excited to share that we’re taking the product a step further, introducing new features, including a more robust sponsor onboarding experience, direct support for TPA and recordkeeping systems, and expanded data fields that are critical to retirement plan management.

Enhanced sponsor onboarding experience

We’ve implemented new capabilities to our embedded employer onboarding experience, Finch Connect. Recordkeepers and TPAs can embed the Finch Connect workflow into their system or invite sponsors using a secure link. In minutes, plan sponsors can connect their payroll provider to send census and pay data to their retirement provider. 

Now, sponsors will also be able to use Finch Connect to map data like source codes and pay statement classifications to meet the specific needs of their retirement plans. Through our recently improved Dashboard, plan administrators can easily track the status of each connected sponsor and ensure data is flowing seamlessly.

Universal recordkeeping and TPA system support

With expanded support for leading recordkeeping and TPA systems, Finch is now compatible with PensionPro, ASC Retirement Plan Software, FIS Relius, and SS&C Technologies. Retirement providers using these systems can use Finch to automatically pull sponsor data directly into the platform.

We’ve also expanded our product offering to include custom Flat File support for any system, no development work required. Recordkeepers and TPAs can create a custom file format and have their sponsors’ data delivered by Finch in a CSV file to their SFTP location. Through Finch’s unified API, the data is standardized, meaning it is always delivered in the same format, regardless of the payroll system it came from. These files are automatically delivered with each pay run, ensuring recordkeepers and TPAs always have the most up-to-date data — even without building an API integration. 

Expanded field support

Finch now supports fields for Rehire Date and Pay Group or Division across payroll systems. This information, essential to retirement plan administration, is often difficult to access, leaving a critical data gap across most connectivity solutions. 

Rehire Date data allows recordkeepers and TPAs to accurately track employee tenure, ensuring plan participants are eligible and accurately vested, even with service breaks. With Pay Group data, contributions align seamlessly with each payroll cycle, supporting compliance and enhancing service quality. This empowers recordkeepers and TPAs to deliver more precise, compliant retirement management across diverse payroll platforms.

The future of connectivity in retirement

Our vision is to deliver complete data connectivity across all retirement systems and payroll providers so recordkeepers and TPAs are empowered to automate routine tasks and provide better service to their customers. To achieve this vision, we’ll focus on three core tenets as we continue to evolve our retirement product:

• Continued network expansion: We’ll continue to expand our integrations across HRIS and payroll providers and retirement software systems, including new direct integrations with major recordkeeping systems. Our goal is to power 100% of the connectivity any recordkeepers or TPA needs.
• Expanded 360° capabilities: We’re advancing support for custom flat files, allowing deductions to be written back across payroll providers without the need for engineering resources.
• Increased Dashboard observability: As the product evolves, the Finch Dashboard will provide deeper visualization of sponsor data and a clear view of the health of all sponsor connections. 

We look forward to working hand-in-hand with our existing retirement customers to inform our product roadmap.

“Collecting census and pay data from sponsors used to be a challenge because we had to spend so much time sifting through the data, making sure it was accurate, and transforming it into our standard format. Now that we’ve automated the process, we’ve eliminated administrative bottlenecks, reduced our overhead costs, and improved service quality for our clients,” said Chandler Julian, Director of Recordkeeping at NestEggs. “Thanks to Finch democratizing access to critical employment data, we're now able to deliver the kind of seamless integration experience that our clients expect from their service providers."

“Thanks to Finch democratizing access to critical employment data, we're now able to deliver the kind of seamless integration experience that our clients expect from their service providers."

Get connected through Finch

Finch makes it easy for recordkeepers and TPAs to securely, easily, and automatically access sponsor census and pay data directly from the payroll system and make deferral changes for the sponsor. Designed with the retirement industry in mind, Finch can be customized to meet the unique needs of your business and sponsors.

If you already are a customer, please reach out to your Account Manager to get access to these new features. To learn more about what Finch can do for your organization, contact our Sales team.

We’re thrilled to announce that Finch has partnered with PensionPro, a leading provider of retirement plan administration technology used by hundreds of third-party administrators (TPAs). Through this collaboration, Finch and PensionPro will revolutionize the administrator–sponsor relationship across more than 200,000 plans by making it easier for TPAs to securely access the data they need while providing a superior sponsor experience.

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Finch is proud to announce that we've partnered with PensionPro, a leading retirement plan administration platform used by more than 1,000 third-party administrators (TPAs). Through this collaboration, TPAs will be able to seamlessly access sponsor data directly from their payroll systems, eliminating manual work, significantly reducing data errors, and streamlining plan administration. 

The challenges associated with accessing timely, accurate, and standardized employer data have long plagued TPAs and recordkeepers alike. For decades, the norm has relied on manual data entry or bulk file transfers via SFTP, both of which are time-consuming, costly, and impossible to scale. As the industry sees an influx of new plans in the wake of SECURE Act 2.0, TPAs need a fast, reliable, secure way to collect sponsor data.

“Accurate payroll data is critical to TPAs and this partnership gives them an automated solution for acquiring that data for their administrative workflows. Finch has a great product and relationships with a large number of payroll providers that will power efficiency for PensionPro customers,” said Darren Conner, PensionPro’s Chief Operating Officer.  “We are excited to partner with Finch to broaden the connected solutions available to TPAs and help evolve the way they work.”

“This partnership is a major win for the retirement industry. For too long, TPAs and recordkeepers have been bogged down by manual, inefficient processes because they had no alternative,” said Jeremy Zhang, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Finch. “We’re excited to work with leaders like PensionPro to modernize this industry so TPAs can focus on providing the best possible service to plan sponsors.”

The Finch and PensionPro partnership

Finch and PensionPro’s partnership will automate the collection of critical sponsor information, including payroll and census data, through Finch Connect. Once the sponsor has authorized the connection, the TPA can automatically pull data directly from their payroll system and into PensionPro’s platform. 

TPAs can onboard sponsors by embedding Finch Connect within their client portal or by simply inviting them to use Finch Connect with a link. The sponsor only needs to log in to their payroll system through Finch Connect, select the data they wish to share, and authorize—a process that can take as little as 30 seconds. Unlike SFTP connections, the sponsor doesn’t need to track down company IDs, configure unique divisions of data, or map corresponding data fields.

Finch supports integrations with leading payroll providers like Gusto, Quickbooks, ADP, and Paychex through a direct API connection, which allows us to facilitate fast data delivery and to standardize the data from each provider to match the format used by the PensionPro platform, eliminating the need to manually format incoming sponsor data. 

For TPAs that use PensionPro, this partnership offers a secure, reliable, accurate way to pull sponsor data directly from their source of truth, eliminating manual workflows and reducing the risk of human error. The data is refreshed with each pay cycle, ensuring administrators have all of the data they need when they need it, reducing the risk of missed deadlines and noncompliance. 

In turn, sponsors benefit from far less administrative responsibility: once they’ve authorized their connection, they don’t need to routinely send files to their TPA, creating a better, more streamlined service experience.

Modernizing the retirement industry

At Finch, we’re building the Open Employment Ecosystem—a future state of employment technology in which the various systems employers use to manage their workforce are connected through shared infrastructure. For the retirement industry, that means democratizing TPAs’ and recordkeepers’ access to payroll and census data without manual efforts or complex file sharing protocols. 

Together through our partnership, Finch and PensionPro are extending that access to more than 1,000 TPAs.

Modernizing the retirement industry has a far-reaching impact that will benefit administrators and sponsors alike. Plan administrators can work more effectively and efficiently, freeing their time to focus on more strategic initiatives and client services. At the same time, removing the administrative burden on sponsors makes retirement plans more affordable and accessible, especially for the small businesses without robust HR departments. 

Get started with Finch 

Finch makes it easy to automatically import sponsors’ pay and census data directly from their payroll platform. To learn more about how we can support your business, talk to our Sales team.