Transamerica started a new initiative to help its retirement plan customers navigate the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act.
The company's five-step CARES Act Customer Support Initiative was "designed to help both retirement plan sponsors and their employees manage through this difficult and complex time," it said Tuesday. The five steps all took effect immediately and include:
- The waiving of all retirement plan fees associated with coronavirus-related distributions until further notice.
- No charge for any plan amendment fees needed to implement the new CARES Act provisions for those retirement plan sponsors who use Transamerica's pre-approved document.
- The establishment of a dedicated team to support participants who are considering accessing their long-term retirement savings to meet their short-term financial challenges related to the coronavirus.
- Transamerica Retirement Solutions issuing a detailed summary of the new CARES Act to help retirement plan customers and their financial professionals navigate the new legislation. Transamerica held a series of 60-minute webinars educating plan sponsors, advisors, consultants and third party administrators on the CARES Act. Transamerica has also outlined the necessary steps for plan sponsors to implement these provisions, offering their employees peace-of-mind that they can access their retirement funds if necessary, it said.
- The Transamerica Aegon Foundation contributing $500,000 to Direct Relief, a humanitarian aid organization, to support health care workers in coronavirus relief efforts.
Goldman Sachs Is "Harnessing" Its Resources and Experience
Noting that the global coronavirus pandemic is "putting extraordinary pressure on all of society," David Solomon, Goldman Sachs CEO and chairman, said at his firm's website that it "has a responsibility to help."
During the firm's recent global virtual town hall, it addressed "some of the ways we are harnessing our resources and experience to do what we can," he said.
"For our clients, we are focused on bringing to bear the full scope of the Goldman Sachs platform," he said, adding: "One way we are doing that is in our consumer businesses, where we are supporting our customers by allowing them to skip their next month's payment on Apple Card or Marcus loans without accruing interest. We're prepared to extend that policy as the environment continues to evolve."
From the firm's own research, it is aware that "small businesses are most at risk from the economic disruption posed by the coronavirus," he said. With that in mind, he said: "We've made progress on a small-business stimulus package that will provide capital and other resources to small businesses to help them weather the crisis. We've announced two commitments thus far, in New York and Chicago, partnering alongside clients to fund emergency loans that support these businesses' operations and their employees. And we're working with other cities across the U.S. and around the world to expand our efforts to help small businesses."
However, the "front lines are in health care," he said, adding: "Recognizing the urgency of need, our firm has donated nearly 600,000 masks, accumulated over time after 9/11 and previous epidemics, to the National Health Service in the UK and to hospital systems in New York, New Jersey and across the country. We're also engaged with ventilator manufacturers and others in the supply chain to try and accelerate delivery of these life-saving devices to places where they are needed most."
Goldman Sachs is also "working to ensure our collective giving is impactful," he said, pointing out it launched a $25 million global relief fund through Goldman Sachs Gives to support health care organizations, front-line responders and hard-hit communities. And, "to further encourage giving toward COVID-19 relief efforts, we've established a special matching gift program for our people, where we will match employee donations $25 or less three-to-one and larger contributions dollar-for-dollar, up to a total of $5 million," he noted.
