Empower’s wealth management unit hit a pre-tax base operating margin of 42.0% in Q3 2026, up 410 basis points year over year, while its retirement unit reached 35.6%, up 370 basis points in the same period. Both are records for the Greenwood Village, Colorado-based firm.
The US segment of Great-West Lifeco, Empower’s Toronto-listed parent, posted after-tax base earnings of $364 million for the quarter, a 15% increase in constant currency from the same period last year. Year-to-date, US base earnings have risen 22% year over year to CA$1.4 billion (around $1 billion), the strongest growth of any Great-West segment and now the largest single contributor to group earnings.
The margin improvement reflects a mix of tailwinds. Stronger equity markets lifted assets under administration, net plan inflows on the retirement side were positive at $1.2 billion for the quarter, and operating leverage has been building steadily as revenue grows over a largely fixed cost base. The US segment posted after-tax base earnings of $364 million for the quarter, a 15% increase in constant currency, though the figure includes $21 million (post-tax) in one-time administrative services fees, partially offset by elevated credit impacts.
Empower reported $2.5 billion in net inflows into Empower Personal Wealth in Q3, a significant improvement management attributed to stronger rollover sales following the completion of “various business transformation initiatives.” Rollovers, in which participants move assets from a workplace plan into an individual retirement account (IRA) or advisory account when they leave an employer or retire, are among the most actively contested pools in US wealth management.
Empower’s ability to capture more of them from its own retirement recordkeeping base of more than 22 million participants represents a structural advantage that advisors competing at the rollover stage are increasingly running into.
The significance of that figure grows alongside the September 2026 closing of Empower’s acquisition of Milliman’s retirement plan and benefits administration business, which added approximately $130 billion in client assets, 1.5 million plan participants, and health and welfare benefits administration capabilities that Empower did not previously hold. The Milliman retirement and benefits administration acquisition was specifically framed as a step toward an integrated employer platform spanning retirement, wealth, defined benefit, and health benefits administration.
The Q3 results offer a first snapshot of Empower’s trajectory with that platform in place. Total client assets across the Great-West group reached CA$3.9 trillion (around $2.8 trillion) at September 30, 2026, up 16% year over year, with CA$1.3 trillion (around $931.8 billion) in higher-margin assets under management or advisement. That figure has grown faster than the broader assets under administration (AUA) base, which management has consistently identified as the mix shift it is engineering.
Empower’s progression from recordkeeper to integrated workplace financial services platform changes the dynamics of a benefits engagement. The question it poses is no longer about which third-party provider complements a plan administrator but about which capabilities the administrator itself now brings directly.
Empower’s US segment base ROE stood at 22.9% in Q3, up from 22.2% in the prior quarter, and well ahead of the trajectory described when the Milliman deal was announced in June.
David Harney, president and CEO of Great-West, said the results reflected “sustained top-line momentum across our businesses, operating leverage in US retirement and wealth, and significant share repurchases over the past year.”
