New York, April 08, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Corporate Insight (CI), the leading provider of competitive intelligence and customer experience research to the financial services, insurance, and healthcare industries, today announced the winners of its 13th annual Retirement Plan Monitor Awards. This year's program recognizes digital innovation and best practices across seven key categories: Account Information, Homepages & Dashboards, Transactions, Profile & Settings, Planning & Research, Support, and Mobile App.
Now in its 13th year, the awards program evaluated 18 website and 17 mobile experiences based off Corporate Insight’s comprehensive DC Plan Participant Website and Mobile Experience Benchmark framework, which assesses functionality, design, navigation, and usability across over 115 individual attributes.
"This year's awards highlight how recordkeepers are raising the bar across every dimension of the participant experience," says Kara Sostar, Research Manager at Corporate Insight. "The standout performers demonstrate that thoughtful investment in planning tools, account transparency, and AI-powered support can meaningfully improve participant engagement and retirement outcomes."
Key Findings and Award Winners
Account Information
Empower and T. Rowe Price share gold in a competitive category where five firms ultimately medaled. Empower claims a gold medal for the fourth consecutive year, recognized for its comprehensive suite of plan details, robust account activity features, and leading aggregation capabilities. T. Rowe Price joins Empower in first place after a significant year-over-year improvement, driven by a new contribution data hub, personalized account videos, and an overhauled investment performance page. American Funds PlanPremier, Fidelity, and TIAA share the bronze medal.
Homepages & Dashboards
Fidelity earns gold after taking a bronze the prior year, powered by a revamped plan dashboard—Plan Summary—that delivers a modular, data-rich layout covering contributions, investments, and performance. TIAA takes silver for its retirement readiness-focused homepage and strong visual design. Principal and T. Rowe Price tie for bronze.
Transactions
Principal claims gold, rising from second place last year on the strength of its enhanced contribution interface with dynamic recommendations and a centralized distribution hub. TIAA earns silver for its strong decision support tools and an improved loans and withdrawals hub. Merrill takes bronze for enhancements to the withdrawal journey, including SECURE 2.0 integrations.
Profile & Settings
TIAA wins gold for the second consecutive year, recognized for impressive communication flexibility, a new digital Passkey feature, and a broad suite of security management tools. Fidelity earns silver for its improved Security Center, which now includes an Account Lock feature and an actionable security checklist. Corebridge Financial takes bronze for granular alert customization and strong profile management usability.
Planning & Research
Fidelity captures gold for the second straight year, with its Your Financial Wellness Dashboard, Retirement Decision Guide, and redesigned Learn hub setting the standard for holistic planning. TIAA earns silver after a major improvement from the prior year, driven by the launch of the Retirement Journey Planner and Guided Retirement Timeline tools. Empower takes bronze for its multi-goal retirement planner and integrated personal finance management capabilities.
Support
Fidelity maintains its first-place ranking in Support, earning gold for its universally available virtual assistant with live chat integration, streamlined beneficiary management, and strong help content. Alight earns silver for AI-powered search and virtual assistant tools. TIAA takes bronze for its centralized Contact Us page, strategic virtual assistant placement, and flexible appointment scheduling.
Mobile App
Fidelity takes gold for its comprehensive, polished mobile experience spanning planning tools, transactional journeys, and a refreshed Learn hub. Empower earns silver for its personal finance management tools, sleek transaction interfaces, and robust account data. TIAA claims bronze after a significant performance gain, driven by a new home screen design and the addition of the Retirement Journey Planner on mobile.
Access the Report
Organizations can purchase the full Retirement Plan Monitor Awards Report at CorporateInsight.com. Media seeking detailed rankings, key findings, and analyst perspectives can contact CI's press team to learn more.
About Corporate Insight
Corporate Insight (CI) delivers competitive intelligence, user experience research and consulting services to the nation's leading financial services, insurance and healthcare organizations. As the recognized industry leader in customer experience research for over 30 years, CI offers a research platform and unique approach of analyzing the actual customer experience to help organizations advance their competitive position in the marketplace.
About Retirement Plan Monitor
CI's Retirement Plan Monitor is a subscription-based competitive intelligence research service focused on the digital retirement plan participant experience. The service provides subscribers with benchmark insights into recordkeeper websites and mobile apps, delivering industry analysis reports, competitive intelligence updates, and capability tracking to help organizations stay ahead in the industry.
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Patrick Flood Corporate Insight (646) 876‑7535 pflood@corporateinsight.com
