Investing.com–One of the most conservative corners of global finance, overseeing roughly $18 trillion in U.S. retirement assets, is confronting an unavoidable reality: its infrastructure is obsolete, and blockchain is no longer a future experiment. It is becoming a prerequisite for survival as non-traditional competitors move into long-term savings.
That warning comes from Robert Crossley, head of industry advisory services at Franklin Templeton, which recently interviewed 52 U.S. retirement plan sponsors, recordkeepers and asset managers that collectively oversee how retirement assets are administered, transferred and recorded.
That warning comes from Robert Crossley, head of industry advisory services at Franklin Templeton, which recently interviewed 52 U.S. retirement plan sponsors, recordkeepers and asset managers that collectively manage $18 trillion of assets and oversee how retirement assets are administered, transferred and recorded.
In an exclusive interview with Investing.com’s Yasin Ebrahim, Crossley said the findings suggest the retirement industry is being pushed toward modernization by a convergence of forces: new competitors moving into long-term savings, rising pressure to deliver more personalized outcomes, and the rising cost of operating through fragmented, siloed systems.
Three reasons the retirement system can no longer stand still
The U.S. retirement system was designed around fail-safe processes and long-term stability, making it one of the most conservative corners of finance. That design, however, is increasingly at odds with the pace of technological and economic change reshaping how people work, save and invest.
“The problems and challenges of the retirement system today are almost impossible to solve within the current architecture, the current constraints, and the current incentives of the system,” Robert Crossley, head of industry advisory services at Franklin Templeton, told Investing.com.
Crossley pointed to three forces converging to make modernization less a choice than a necessity, arguing that blockchain-powered infrastructure is now increasingly viewed as one of the more realistic ways to restructure how data, assets and benefits such as 401(k) account balances, contribution rights, and vesting rules move across the system.
First, competition is no longer confined to traditional retirement incumbents. Neo-brokers and fintech platforms such as Robinhood are expanding beyond trading into rollovers and long-term savings. These new incumbents are building direct relationships with savers that retirement providers historically controlled, particularly at rollover and job-change moments.
