SPARK’s API Framework: Accelerating the Future of Retirement Plan Data Integration with Insights from Joe Burt, Chair of SPARK’s Technology and API Committee
The retirement plan industry has tolerated operational friction for far too long. Legacy systems, batch delays, costly one-off integrations, and siloed data have slowed down every stakeholder in the ecosystem. Recordkeepers, RPCs, payroll providers, HRIS platforms, DCIOs, advisors, CPAs, broker-dealers, and plan sponsors all feel the operational drag.
The SPARK Institute’s voluntary API Integration Guidelines, released in June 2025, represent a structural shift. These guidelines are more than recommendations. They are a blueprint for how the industry must connect, communicate, and protect participant data in the next decade.
As Joe Burt, a member of the Asteri Collective and the architect who built the SPARK API framework, explained in his recent video:
“I was trying to reconcile files from a recordkeeper and it was a nightmare. We were dealing with spreadsheets, PDFs, manual reconciliations. It was clear our industry was far behind when it comes to using technology to move data efficiently, quickly, and securely.”
APIs are not just technical conveniences. They are the new standard for security, precision, and operational scalability. The Asteri Collective views SPARK’s initiative as a turning point in how the entire retirement ecosystem operates.
We are not waiting for the future to arrive, we are building it.
Why This Matters Now
The defined contribution market now exceeds $12.5 trillion in assets and 121 million participant accounts. With that scale comes complexity, and with that complexity comes cost.
The pressure points are clear:
- Fee compression and rising operational costs
- Increasing regulatory requirements
- Growing workload for RPCs, often without compensation
- Rising participant expectations for real-time accuracy
- Heightened cybersecurity concerns
- AI-driven expectations for personalization and speed
APIs change the infrastructure behind all of this.
They introduce consistent, secure, real-time data exchange that replaces outdated file transfers and manual intervention with automated, auditable workflow.
“The SPARK API is basically a digital handshake. It exchanges the information without intervention. You set the schedule, you define what data is needed, and it moves securely and instantly.”
SPARK’s API Guidelines: Setting the Standard
SPARK’s framework is voluntary and open, not rigid or proprietary. Its aim is simple: create a common language for data exchange that every firm in the ecosystem can use.
The guidelines include:
Voluntary Best Practices
Encourage broad adoption without forcing firms into proprietary models.
Standardized Data Exchange
Census, eligibility, deferrals, loans, distributions, contribution confirmations, and more.
Consistent Workflows and Fields
Shared definitions eliminate misinterpretation and re-keying.
Security Standards
Encryption, authentication, and modern cybersecurity protocols.
“Our mission is to make it easier for us to move data around using APIs and advanced technologies in a secure and efficient way. We just needed to standardize it.”
As of mid-2025, SPARK’s Census API is live. Loan and Distribution and Participant Balance APIs follow next. Additional endpoints will roll out based on industry feedback.
How APIs Improve Real Integration
SPARK’s API framework replaces manual, delayed, error-prone processes with instant, accurate, secure flows of data.
Real integration looks like this:
When a payroll closes, contributions, loan repayments, and participant updates push instantly to the recordkeeper.
- No file uploads.
- No spreadsheets.
- No lag.
- No missed deferrals.
Just clean, real-time, auditable data.
“Instead of taking an entire document and sending it again, which is a lot of data and can choke the system, you can build what’s called a change API. You only receive the changes. It makes the process incredibly efficient.”
Creating a significant leap forward for the entire industry.
Benefits Across the Ecosystem
SPARK’s API model provides measurable advantages for every stakeholder:
Efficiency
Automated flows reduce manual workloads and increase processing speed.
Accuracy
Standardized formats preserve data integrity without manual intervention.
Compliance
Secure, consistent handling reduces fiduciary and regulatory exposure.
Scalability
Less reliance on custom connections decreases maintenance and increases capacity.
For RPCs, the impact is immediate and impactful. More time for consulting, less time on cleanup, and stronger sponsor relationships.
APIs as the Foundation for the Next Era
SPARK’s API work is not only about payroll and HRIS. It is the backbone for the future of all retirement plan operations.
This framework will support:
- Unified data exchange across recordkeeping, payroll, HRIS, advisory, DCIO, actuarial, and administrative systems
- Automated eligibility, deferrals, loans, and distributions
- Encrypted, secure transfers aligned with ERISA and cybersecurity expectations
- Shared data fields that eliminate redundant reconciliations
- Rapid deployment of new software, tools, and participant experiences
The retirement industry moves from fragmented to connected.
The Asteri Collective’s Role in What Comes Next
Asteri firms are not passive observers. We are at the center of designing how these standards are implemented in the real world.
- Driving Adoption Across Partners
Asteri works with recordkeepers, payroll providers, DCIOs, CPAs, advisors, software partners, and broker-dealers to promote tech-forward thinking , adoption and to champion implementation. - Leading the RPC Community
Member firms are developing internal best practices for ingesting and transmitting standardized API data.
“There had never been a TPA on the SPARK board before. When they asked me to join and run the committee, I said yes because the industry needed a unified approach,” Joe Burt.
RPCs finally have a voice in building the infrastructure that supports them.
- Protecting Participant Data
Every API connection is built with security and compliance at the center.
APIs Power the AI Layer
APIs deliver clean, real-time data which allows AI to make that data actionable.
This creates personalized participant projections, instant answers to routine inquiries, automated eligibility and contribution workflows, real-time advisor and RPC visibility, and predictive accuracy for compliance and plan monitoring
A Call to the Retirement Industry
SPARK’s API framework is voluntary, but the firms adopting it now will set the standard for the industry.
Those who move early will lead in:
Operational excellence
Security
Client experience
Advisor enablement
Ecosystem connectivity
AI readiness
Those who wait will be reacting to the firms who already built the future.
At The Asteri Collective, we will continue connecting innovators, translating standards into action, and ensuring member firms and their partners are ready for what comes next.
Because the future of retirement is not built in silos. It is built through collaboration, secure connectivity, and standards that move the entire ecosystem forward.
