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Fiduciary Governance
A recent blog post suggests that may be the case, with more employers moving to incorporate features of the most successful defined benefit plans.
“We believe that, by 2025, more employers will adopt some of the characteristics of the most successful pension plans to help put them on a path to...
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ASPPA is always providing information and insights that will be valuable to its members! Following is a summary of upcoming webcasts and events.
Live Webcasts
ASPPA Webcast: Cybersecurity: What You Don’t Know – and Do – Will Hurt You
Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2020
2:00 - 3:40 p.m. ET
...
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Think the last multibillion-dollar 401(k) plan had been sued? Guess again.
The latest to find itself served with a suit is health technology firm Cerner Corp., whose $2 billion plan has been accused of the assortment of fiduciary miscues typical of this case genre.
Specifically, four...
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A new excessive fee suit makes some of the same claims, but relies on different arguments, turning not only to government filings, but also making very precise arguments about plan expenses and portfolio diversification.
This most recent suit (Fleming v. Rollins, Inc., N.D. Ga., No. 1:19-cv-05732...
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The IRS has issued the Instructions for the Form 8955-SSA: Annual Registration Statement Identifying Separated Participants with Deferred Vested Benefits to be used for 2019 reporting.
The Form 8955-SSA is the designated successor to the Schedule SSA to the Form 5500. It is used to satisfy the...
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The IRS and the Department of Labor’s Employee Benefit Security Administration have issued a guide to help small businesses choose a retirement plan. “Choosing a Retirement Plan for Your Small Business” is a joint project undertaken by the two agencies.
The publication encourages small businesses...
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Those who had hoped for some clarity – or perhaps a shift – in the standards involving where, and how, to draw the line between the obligations of corporate officials and ERISA plan fiduciaries – will have to wait a little longer.
It’s an issue that the U.S. Supreme Court had taken on when agreed...
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Amid ever-increasing fee pressure and evolving expectations from plan sponsors, a new report warns that retirement plan providers must be prepared to consider economies of scale and to prioritize technology initiatives in order to maintain profitability.
According to findings from “The Cerulli...
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By some measures, corporate pension plans fared well in 2019, while by others they did not — so their overall health was largely unchanged, says a new study.
In a new analysis that looked at data concerning 376 Fortune 1000 companies that sponsor pension plans and end their fiscal year on Dec. 31...
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ASPPA is always providing information and insights that will be valuable to its members! Following is a summary of upcoming webcasts and events.
Live Webcasts
ASPPA Webcast: Loans: Correcting Taxation, Qualification and Fiduciary Failures
Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2020
2:00 - 3:40 p.m. ET
Speaker:...
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One of the first universities to find itself targeted in a 403(b) excessive fee suit has asked the nation’s highest court to resolve the threshold for getting to trial.
The suit was not only one of the first of the university 403(b) excessive fee suits to be filed (and yes, by the firm of...
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The most significant piece of retirement legislation in a decade could become a reality, after all.
Hill staff worked throughout the weekend to put the finishing touches on the nearly $1.4 trillion spending bill for FY 2020, which will likely be the last “legislative vehicle” for 2019 – and things...
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IRS on Dec. 10 issued updated mortality improvement rates and static mortality tables for defined benefit plans for 2021. The update is contained in Notice 2019-67.
Notice 2019-67 specifies updated mortality improvement rates and static mortality tables to be used for DB plans under Code Section...
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For years, there has been a persistent trend toward outsourcing retirement plan recordkeeping and other administrative responsibilities. While historically more prevalent for defined contribution plans, this outsourcing trend has been accelerating for defined benefit plans – thanks, in part, to the...
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Shopping for a new provider is not something one would normally equate with a Black Friday foray or a Cyber Week scramble. But if you have a plan sponsor — or plan sponsor prospect — who’s thinking about shopping for a new provider, here are some ideas to share.
Make a list — and yes, check it...
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The Bay State’s Securities Division of the Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth has formally released new proposed fiduciary conduct standards for broker-dealers, agents, investment advisers and investment adviser representatives – but how does it view ERISA’s fiduciary standard?
The...
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Seven months ago, the United States Supreme Court asked the Solicitor General of the United States to weigh in on a case with significant implications for the burden of proof in ERISA lawsuits. Now they have.
In a 28-page “friend of the court” brief (Putnam Investments, LLC v. Brotherston, U.S.,...
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Thanksgiving has been called a “uniquely American” holiday, and while that may be something of an overstatement, it is unquestionably a special holiday, and one on which it seems appropriate to reflect on all for which we should be thankful.
So, as I look back at this past year:
I’m thankful that...
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[UPDATED 12/04/19]
Secretary of the Commonwealth William F. Galvin, Massachusetts’ chief securities regulator, has signed off on new regulations that would impose a uniform fiduciary conduct standard in that state.
A hearing on the proposed regulations, which were filed with Galvin’s Publications...
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Cyber crime, and cyber security, obviously are a concern for plans. But that means more than making sure plan records and accounts are not targets and victims — it also includes other functions, structures and systems.
Experts at the recent SPARK Forum held in Palm Beach, FL offered insights and...
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