LINCOLN NATIONAL CORP

The Retirement Plan Services segment provides employers with retirement plan products and services, primarily in the defined contribution retirement plan marketplace. Defined contribution plans are a popular employee benefit offered by employers large and small across a wide spectrum of industries. While our focus is employer-sponsored defined contribution plans, we also serve the defined benefit plan and individual retirement account (“IRA”) markets on a limited basis. We provide a variety of plan investment vehicles, including individual and group variable annuities, group fixed annuities and mutual fund-based programs. We also offer a broad array of plan services including plan recordkeeping, compliance testing, participant education and trust and custodial services through our affiliated trust company, Lincoln Financial Group Trust Company.

Products and Services

The Retirement Plan Services segment currently brings three primary offerings to the employer-sponsored market: LINCOLN DIRECTORSM group variable annuity, LINCOLN ALLIANCE® program and Multi-Fund® variable annuity. The LINCOLN ALLIANCE program is a mutual fund-based record-keeping platform. These offerings primarily cover the 403(b), 401(k) and 457 plan marketplaces. The 403(b) plans are available to educational institutions, not-for-profit healthcare organizations and certain other not-for-profit entities 401(k) plans are generally available to for-profit entities; and 457 plans are available to not-for-profit entities and state and local government entities. The investment options for our products encompass the spectrum of asset classes with varying levels of risk and include both equity and fixed-income.

LINCOLN DIRECTORSM group variable annuity is primarily a 401(k) defined contribution retirement plan solution available to small businesses, typically those with plans having less than $10 million in account balances. The LINCOLN DIRECTOR product offers participants a broad array of investment options from several fund families and a fixed account. The Retirement Plan Services segment earns revenue through asset charges and/or separate account charges, which are used to pay our fees for recordkeeping services. We also receive fees from the underlying mutual fund companies for the services we provide, and we earn investment margins on assets in the fixed account. Through the LINCOLN DIRECTOR product, as well the LINCOLN ALLIANCE® product discussed below, we also offer our proprietary YourPath® portfolios, a series of target-date portfolios for employer-sponsored retirement plans. These target-date portfolios are managed along multiple risk-based paths to support a more personalized investment approach based upon financial circumstances and risk tolerance. These target-date portfolios are also available with an income solution in the form of a GWB.

The LINCOLN ALLIANCE program is a defined contribution retirement plan solution aimed at small, mid-large and large market employers, typically those that have defined contribution plans with $10 million or more in account balance. The target market is primarily healthcare providers, public sector employers, corporations and educational institutions. The program bundles our traditional fixed annuity products with the employer’s choice of mutual funds, along with recordkeeping, plan compliance services and customized employee education services. The program allows the use of any mutual fund. We earn fees for our recordkeeping and educational services and other services that we provide to plan sponsors and participants. We also earn investment spreads on fixed annuities.

Multi-Fund® variable annuity is a defined contribution retirement plan solution with fully bundled administrative services and investment choices for small- to mid-sized healthcare, education, governmental and not-for-profit employers sponsoring 403(b), 457(b) and 401(a)/(k) plans. The product is available to the employer through the Multi-Fund group variable annuity contract or directly to the individual participant through the Multi-Fund Select variable annuity contract. We earn mortality and expense charges, investment income on the fixed account and surrender charges from this product. We also receive fees for services that we provide to funds in the underlying separate accounts.

Additionally, we offer other products and services that complement our primary offerings:

•The Lincoln Next Step® series of products is a suite of mutual fund-based IRAs available exclusively for participants in Lincoln-serviced retirement plans and their spouses. The products can accept rollovers and transfers from other providers as well as ongoing contributions. The Lincoln Next Step IRA product has no annual account charges and offers an array of mutual fund investment options provided by 20 fund families all offered at net asset value. The Lincoln Next Step Select IRA has an annual record keeping charge and offers an even wider array of mutual fund investment options from over 20 families, all at net asset value. We earn 12b-1 and service fees on the mutual funds within the product.

•Through a group annuity contract, we offer a series of products intended to fulfill future needs of retirement security for our clients. By offering a GWB inside a retirement plan, we provide plan sponsors a solution that gives participants the ability to participate in the market and receive guaranteed income for life while still maintaining access to their plan account balance. These products are available both to retirement plans where we provide plan recordkeeping services and those where we do not.

•Through a group annuity contract or funding agreement, we offer fixed return products to retirement plans and other institutional contract holders where we do not provide plan recordkeeping services. The fixed annuity or funding agreement is used within small, mid-large and large employer plan sponsors or institutional investors. The contract provides a conservative investment option for those seeking stability. In some cases, we earn investment spreads on assets in the fixed account, and in other product versions we earn a fee on assets in the underlying custodial account.

Retirement Plan Services products are primarily distributed in two ways: through our Institutional Retirement Distribution team and by LFD. These teams distribute these products through advisers, consultants, banks, wirehouses and individual planners. We remain focused on wholesaler productivity, increasing relationship management expertise and growing the number of broker-dealer relationships.

The Multi-Fund program is sold primarily by affiliated advisers. The LINCOLN ALLIANCE program is sold primarily through consultants, registered independent advisers and both affiliated and non-affiliated financial advisers, planners and wirehouses. LINCOLN DIRECTOR group variable annuity is sold in the small plan marketplace by intermediaries, including financial advisers and planners.

The retirement plan marketplace is very competitive and comprised of many providers with no one company dominating the market for all products. As stated above, we compete with numerous other financial services corporations in the small, mid and large employer-size markets. The main factors upon which entities in this market compete are product strength, technology, service model delivery, participant education models, quality of wholesale distribution access to intermediary firms and brand recognition. Our key differentiator is our technology enabled people-connected service model, which leverages digitally focused tools with personalized support and has been shown to drive positive outcomes for plan sponsors and participants.