Pontera and Manulife John Hancock Retirement Announce Collaboration to Create Efficiencies for Advisors Looking to Improve Participant Outcomes with Personalized Defined Contribution Account Management

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Sep 03, 2025, 06:30 ET

NEW YORK, Sept. 3, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Pontera, the fintech company helping retirement savers receive professional 401(k) account management from their financial advisor, announced today a new strategic collaboration with Manulife John Hancock Retirement, a company of Manulife Wealth & Asset Management. The collaboration is built on the shared mission of giving U.S. retirement savers more choice in how they manage their held-away accounts, including working with an advisor of their choosing. The firms will work together on the secure and compliant management of held-away accounts, such as 401(k)s, at Manulife John Hancock Retirement to offer more holistic strategies and improved portfolio alignment for advisors and participants.

"For many Americans, workplace retirement accounts represent the bulk of their savings. However, it's historically been challenging for their financial advisor to efficiently manage these assets on their behalf," said Dave Goldman, Chief Business Officer at Pontera. "This collaboration aims to change that, delivering meaningful benefits not only to participants but also to advisors and other retirement industry stakeholders. We're proud to partner with recordkeepers who put participants at the center of every decision they make while expanding access to high-quality financial advice across the retirement and financial planning ecosystem."

The firms anticipate the following potential benefits for advisors, participants, and plan sponsors:

For advisors, it provides tools to securely and compliantly manage clients' workplace retirement accounts, offering deeper relationships, improved portfolio alignment, and more holistic strategies.
For participants, it increases the accessibility of professional advice for their defined contribution accounts, including 401(k)s—and helps support smarter investing, greater confidence, and better preparedness for retirement.
For plan sponsors, this adds value to their retirement plan offerings by supporting personalized advice that helps participants make better-informed financial decisions by working with the advisor of their choice.

"Like Pontera, we are committed to improving retirement outcomes for all Americans," said Wayne Park, CEO of Manulife John Hancock Retirement. "Giving plan participants more choice, more advice, more guidance – particularly as retirement offerings become more complex and markets remain volatile – is simply the sensible thing to do. By enabling financial advisors to more seamlessly manage their clients' defined contribution assets, we're helping people receive targeted, holistic investment strategies and a more defined path toward their retirement goals."

Pontera's secure, client-permissioned technology enables retirement savers to receive personalized defined contribution account management as part of a holistic wealth management service that incorporates all, not just some, of their financial holdings. The platform, certified under SOC 2 Type II- and ISO 27001 standards, acts as a secure layer that lets advisors analyze, rebalance, and monitor accounts while also safeguarding clients' data.

About Pontera

Pontera is a fintech company on a mission to help millions of Americans retire better by enabling financial advisors to manage, balance, and report on clients' assets in 401(k)s, 403(b)s, and other workplace-sponsored accounts. Our secure, purpose-built platform, seamlessly integrated with advisors' portfolio management tools, is designed to work across many account types and help advisors improve financial outcomes through more comprehensive investment management. Founded in 2012, Pontera is headquartered in New York City. Learn more at pontera.com.

Manulife John Hancock Retirement

Manulife John Hancock Retirement is the U.S. retirement business of Manulife Investment Management. For more than 50 years, John Hancock has helped people plan and invest for retirement; today, we're one of the largest full-service providers in the United States. We take a hands-on consultative approach based on the idea that no two plans—and no two plan participants—are exactly alike. We partner with plan sponsors, advisors, and third-party administrators to ensure that every plan is personal to the participant and delivers proven results.¹

As of June 30, 2025, Manulife John Hancock Retirement serviced over 57,000 retirement plans with over 3.3 million participants* and over $254 billion in AUMA.
* Participant Counts reflect all active participants with a balance.

Manulife John Hancock and Pontera are not affiliated and are not responsible for the liabilities of the other.

Contact:

Pontera
Sarah Levine
[email protected]

John Hancock
Elizabeth Bartlett
[email protected]

SOURCE Pontera