Steve Jobs once said, “Innovation distinguishes between a follower and a leader. “

In the death audit and participant locate market, PBI Research is the clear leader and constant innovation has been the catalyst. But it didn’t happen overnight. It started 40 years ago when the company began helping pension funds find unreported pension decedents and locate missing plan participants and beneficiaries. This unrelenting focus to provide accurate data on a consistent basis propelled the company upward.

However, the defining moment that would dramatically change the company’s trajectory came later. In 2011, the Social Security Administration’s Death Master File (DMF), started limiting the number of reported deaths due to concerns about the rise of identity fraud. It turned out to be a sea change for the industry as the DMF went from reporting 95% of deaths prior to 2011 to just 16% in recent years.

So, after 2011, pension plans and insurance companies could no longer rely on the DMF to find most of their decedents, which meant they had to do the work themselves – spending countless hours combing through disparate obituary data and various media sources from around the country. Or they could turn to companies like PBI for help. But even with the assistance of outside experts, the best they could hope for was to find 70% of deaths.

PBI was determined to do better. The company made the decision to invest millions of dollars into data technology and assembled the largest team of data experts in the industry to bring customers a better outcome. It took years, but the result was the introduction of CertiDeath in 2019 – a game changer.

Using over 26,000 obituary databases and their team of specialists, CertiDeath was able to identify 96.5% of deaths with 99.9% accuracy. Since its introduction, CertiDeath has helped clients uncover over $1 billion in overpayments and release billions in related reserves.

Building on its CertiDeath success, PBI continued to innovate. In 2022, PBI introduced CertiCensus, the first and only complete population management solution available on the market. For plan administrators, record keepers, and insurance companies,  CertiCensus manages participant communications and finds missing decedents, participants, policyholders and beneficiaries.

As a true end-to-end solution, CertiCensus can significantly reduce plan management costs, eliminate overpayments, align with regulatory compliance, and mitigate cybersecurity risk. But perhaps most importantly it ensures a better participant and policy holder experience, locates beneficiaries with benefits they deserve and helps ensure the longevity of the fund.

This year PBI is introducing CertiSearch, the soon-to-be premier participant locate service on the market. Like our other offerings it leverages our state-of-the-art data systems and team of experts to find more missing participants and beneficiaries than any other service.

You’ll also notice our new look. We’ve refreshed our logo, colors and design which reflects our never-ending commitment to reach higher in everything we do.

It’s true, innovation drives our growth, but customer service sustains it. Our customers can always rely on our dedicated sales and account teams to make sure they get what they need every day – satisfaction reflected by a 98% product renewal rate. At the end of the day, PBI customers can rest assured they’re doing what’s best for their plan, participants, beneficiaries and policy holders.