By Matt Grossman

Truist Financial Corp. has sold business lines related to retirement-investing accounts to three separate buyers, the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank said Wednesday.

Truist, formed by the 2019 merger of BB&T Corp. and SunTrust Banks Inc., sold its institutional 401(k) investment-advisory services business to OneDigital Investment Advisors. It has also signed agreements to sell its institutional 401(k) record-keeping businesses to Ascensus LLC and Empower Retirement LLC.

The deals will help Truist focus on growth opportunities at a time of consolidation in the institutional 401(k) industry, said Joe Thompson, Truist's head of wealth.

The OneDigital sale, which closed on Dec. 31, will transfer investment-advisory services for 1,200 plans to OneDigital. The plans transferred represent $10 billion in plan assets.

Ascensus is buying the 401(k) record-keeping business that derives from BB&T's legacy operations, including more than 1,200 retirement plans with roughly 125,000 plan participants and $5 billion in assets. Empower is buying SunTrust's legacy 401(k) record-keeping business, of approximately 300 plans with 73,000 plan participants and $5 billion in plan assets. Those deals will close in the first quarter of the year, Truist said.

Truist did not disclose the terms of the transactions.

Write to Matt Grossman at matt.grossman@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

01-06-21 0833ET