Banco Popular de Puerto Rico

The business of benefits continues to shift, with industry mergers and acquisitions filling news feeds this year. Meanwhile, brokerages remain committed to meeting clients’ needs through innovative ideas that also stole headlines in 2015.

These automatic retirement plan programs have been disrupting the industry with computerized investment formulas and low prices, but do they have an unfair advantage at the regulatory level?

The IRS on Monday extended the deadline for 2015 ACA information reporting, giving employers subject to the requirements some highly-sought after relief.

In many states, just one-tenth of brokers are involved with state and national politics, leaving the heavy lifting to a small group who enjoy the time-consuming and challenging work. But, they agree, the rest of the agent community should get involved.

The Affordable Care Act’s reporting requirements topped the list of regulatory issues for 2015. This year also saw two major Supreme Court decisions, a four-day hearing about the DOL fiduciary rule and debate surrounding the impending Cadillac tax.

It’s been 20 years since the National Association of Health Underwriters provided Registered Employee Benefits Consultant and Chartered Healthcare Consultant credentials — but thanks to a new deal announced earlier this month with The American College of Financial Services, it will do so again.

It was another banner year for technology in the benefits space, with the launch of several new tech companies in the benefit space and a continued look forward with innovative new products.

Private benefit exchanges continued to grow in popularity this year — mostly in the midmarket segment. The exchanges also saw changes to their product offerings on both the employee and supplier side.

As employers continue to outsource HR and benefit admin functions, benefit brokers should prepare to work in an increasingly complicated environment.

Between our Advisers of the Year, Rising Stars in Advising and Most Influential Women in Benefit Advising, EBA highlighted five dozen individuals in 2015 who are bringing meaningful advancements to the field of benefit advising and elevating expectations of what it means to be an exceptional broker.