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Fiduciary Governance
Thinking outside the box is often a valued attribute; in the retirement plan universe, it can find expression in arrangements and plan features that offer flexibility, liquidity and portability. But a recently released paper suggests that it is important to be mindful of fiduciary duties while...
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Guess how many CE credits you can get at the ASPPA Annual Conference.This year you can earn up to 25 ASPPA CE credits — with three ethics credits available — for the 2017–2018 CE cycle. Sessions offer up to two credit hours each.At “ASPPA Annual” — one of the retirement industry’s longest-running...
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The SEC’s proposed Regulation Best Interest (Reg BI) is remarkable in its similarities to the DOL’s vacated Best Interest Contract Exemption (BICE) – or so Fred Reish thinks.
With a beginning note of caution that Reg BI applies to securities recommendations, while the BICE would have (but for the...
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President Trump has nominated Senate Banking Committee aide Elad Roisman to serve as a Republican member of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).Roisman, who currently serves as Chief Counsel to the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee under Chairman Mike Crapo (R-ID), would...
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The victorious plaintiffs in litigation vacating the Labor Department's fiduciary rule would like the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit to put the rule — and the financial services industry at large — out of its collective "misery."In a letter to the Clerk of Court for the U.S. Court of...
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Robert Kaplan, the American Retirement Association’s Director of Technical Education, provided a look at recent regulatory and legislative developments in a May 22 ASPPA webcast.Kaplan began the Second Quarter 2018 Washington Update webcast with a discussion of fiduciary rules. He noted that the U....
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The Plan Sponsor Council of America’s 2018 Annual Conference May 1-2 featured the insights of experts on issues critical to retirement plan sponsors and industry professionals.Retirement readiness, best practices in serving plans and running a plan and practice, industry and regulatory developments...
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Less than a week after the suit was filed — but (apparently) after six months of arm’s length negotiation with the assistance of a national mediator, the parties in an excessive fee suit have come to terms.According to the settlement agreement (Ramsey v. Philips North America LLC, S.D. Ill., No. 3:...
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The law firm of Schlichter, Bogard & Denton, LLP, has targeted another 401(k) plan for breach of its fiduciary duties — and their claims include that the lack of a stable value fund cost plan participants $41 million.The most recent suit was filed on behalf of Todd Ramsey, Frederick Butler,...
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You cannot wear two hats at once. You cannot look out for the best interest of an employer and an employee at the same time. But there is a third hat that can bridge the gap — one woven out of the threads of best practices.
You have the option to embrace best practices, Fred Reish, Partner at...
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One of the most vocal critics of the Labor Department’s fiduciary rule is leaving the Securities and Exchange Commission — with a mammoth advice proposal out for public comment.
SEC Commissioner Michael Piwowar announced May 7 that he intends to step down from the SEC on July 7, after serving...
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Leading ERISA legal minds believe the Securities and Exchange Commission’s proposals to establish new standards of conduct for broker-dealers (BDs) and investment advisers (IAs) still need a lot of work.The SEC on April 18 voted 4-1 to release for public comment two new rules and one new piece of...
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My schedule – and aversion to crowds – means that I rarely see a new movie the first weekend it comes out (a rare exception – Avengers: Infinity War).While this means that there are times when I’m the only one in the office the following Monday who hasn’t seen the latest blockbuster (and thus can’t...
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Speculation continues to swirl on whether the Department of Labor will appeal the ruling by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals vacating the fiduciary rule, but time is running short.At the April 15 opening session of the NAPA 401(k) Summit in Nashville, the Groom Law Group’s David Levine and The...
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While reiterating some long-standing positions on socially responsive investing, the Department of Labor (DOL) has some new cautions about an ESG emphasis in plan design and proxy voting.It has done so in the form of Field Assistance Bulletin 2018-01, issued April 23, which is designed to provide...
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Despite the 4-1 vote by the Securities and Exchange Commission to release for public comment its fiduciary proposals, the commissioners apparently (still) have issues with the current version.In unveiling the package, SEC Commissioner Jay Clayton stated as motivations for this initiative: investor...
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While the Securities and Exchange Commissioners were hardly unanimous in their assessment, they voted 4-1 to release for public comment a set of proposals to “enhance the quality and transparency of investors’ relationships with investment advisers and broker-dealers while preserving access to a...
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“Lifetime income is becoming the most important issue for retirement security,” says Theodore Goldman, Senior Pension Fellow at the American Academy of Actuaries, adding that the academy considers lifetime income “one of the most critical components leading to retirement security.”Goldman shared...
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As workers become more highly mobile, frequently changings jobs and homes, the task of finding missing plan participants can be a time-consuming and difficult process for plan sponsors, particularly in light of the Department of Labor sharpening its focus on efforts taken by sponsors to find...
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At an April 11 session of the Enrolled Agents Meeting held by the Conference of Consulting Actuaries and the American Academy of Actuaries in Washington, DC, a panel of PBGC officials discussed compliance issues regarding single-employer plans, with a focus on late filings and missing participants...
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