Advertisement
Fiduciary Governance
After “…substantial discovery, the exchange and review of key documents, and arm’s-length negotiations between experienced ERISA class-action counsel directed by a seasoned and respected mediator,” the parties in a suit involving proprietary fund investments have come to terms.
The cash settlement...
READ MORE
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) has announced that it intends to provide new flexibility for variable-rate premium filers.
“This relief will support the Administration’s efforts to continue driving economic recovery and helping those in need,” said PBGC Director Gordon Hartogensis...
READ MORE
Few professionals have a bird’s eye view of 401(k) plans like that of an auditor. One such professional offers his observations regarding issues and concerns 401(k) plans face and need to address.
In “401(k) Plan Concerns—from the Auditor Perspective,” Bradley Bartels, a partner at Mann, Urrutia...
READ MORE
The law firm of Schlichter Bogard & Denton has a new target—multiple employer plans, and they’ve just filed their second excessive fee suit in that genre.
This time the target is the Pentegra Defined Contribution Plan for Financial Institutions, a multiple employer plan, or MEP. The Schlichter...
READ MORE
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) has good news and bad news. The good news: It projects that its single-employer program will be solvent throughout the entire decade. The bad news: Its multiemployer program could be insolvent by 2026.
In its recently released “FY 2019 PBGC...
READ MORE
The Department of Labor (DOL) heard from an array of witnesses on its proposed fiduciary advice rulemaking package—ranging from calls to withdraw the proposal altogether, to making significant changes before proceeding.
The DOL’s Sept. 3 hearing focused on its proposed advice package, “...
READ MORE
The IRS has provided some answers to questions concerning the small employer automatic enrollment credit, part-time vesting rules and other provisions under the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act (SECURE Act).
IRS Notice 2020-68, issued Sept. 2, provides guidance on some...
READ MORE
The Department of Labor (DOL) proposed a proxy voting rule Aug. 31 that says fiduciaries should “refrain from spending workers’ retirement savings to research and vote on matters that are not expected to have an economic impact on the plan.”
The proposed regulation—issued with a goal of...
READ MORE
How corporate pension plan funds are invested is of great importance. One of the strategies some plans use is liability-driven investing (LDI); a recent paper discusses how interest rates relate to such an approach.
In “The Impact of Interest Rate Expectations on LDI Strategy,” Senior Consultant...
READ MORE
Communication with employees about benefits is always critical. And now there’s an added wrinkle—the pandemic. It’s changed the rulebook, at least in some ways, and a recent blog entry offers suggestions on communicating in this upended environment.
In “How to Communicate Employee Benefits in...
READ MORE
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) plans to ask the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for its approval to extend its collection of information to aid its effort to locate missing participants and beneficiaries and pay their benefits.
The PBGC intends to request that the OMB extend...
READ MORE
Citing the “imminent harm of being solicited for non-Plan services,” the plaintiffs in an excessive fee suit have filed a response to a motion to dismiss the case by fiduciaries of the $4.4 billion ADP TotalSource Retirement Savings Plan.
The suit was filed in mid-May in the U.S. District Court...
READ MORE
Estimated retiree buyout costs fell in July, marking a reversal of the results in the previous month, says a recent report.
Both the average accounting discount rates and the annuity purchase rates decreased in July, says Milliman, fueling a drop in the lower estimated retiree buyout cost. The...
READ MORE
Among those most attuned to retirement plans in challenging times like these are those approaching retirement. For them, the term “retirement plan” has a very double meaning—and employers and plan sponsors can play a role in addressing their concerns.
In “Retirement Plans and Coronavirus: Take...
READ MORE
I’ve always been just a bit paranoid about my personal data. All the more so because in a half dozen different circumstances over the past two decades, someone who had access to that data for legitimate purposes… lost it.
Those data breaches notwithstanding (and one did involve a 401(k) account)...
READ MORE
Late on the afternoon of Aug. 21, the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) announced that it will hold a public hearing on its new fiduciary rule proposal.
Specifically, the notice, which is expected to be published in the Aug. 25 Federal Register, is being held “to consider issues...
READ MORE
The Department of Labor (DOL) on Aug. 20 issued proposed regulations that would establish requirements for pooled plan providers (PPPs) to register with the DOL.
The DOL says that it recognizes that there may be challenges associated with these new types of multiple employer plans (MEPs) that it,...
READ MORE
The parties in an excessive fee suit that had been dismissed by a federal court—have now come to terms.
Indeed, it was only just over a month ago that the suit, filed last fall by Carl Martin against CareerBuilder, his former employer, claiming that the plan fiduciaries (and unnamed “monitoring...
READ MORE
Considering that many firms have modified their normal operating procedures and moved to a company-wide telework environment, the Securities and Exchange Commission is urging firms to take extra steps to ensure the safety of its investors’ assets.
Among other things, the eight-page Risk Alert...
READ MORE
In the latest of a series of regulatory announcements, updates and proposals, the Department of Labor (DOL) has unveiled an Interim Final Rule on lifetime income disclosures under the SECURE Act.
Under the Interim Final Rule, retirement plans would provide lifetime income illustrations using...
READ MORE