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Fiduciary Governance
A group of eight Republican senators, including the Chairmen of the Senate Finance Committee and the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (HELP), have expressed their concerns about the potential negative consequences for American workers if the Labor Department’s fiduciary...
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The Labor Department has repeatedly claimed to be consulting with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on its fiduciary reproposal — but a couple of key House Republicans would like to see some proof.House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairman John Kline (R-Minn.) and Rep. Phil Roe...
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Legislative phoenixes that would codify the president’s auto IRA proposal and change the qualified plan loan rules have arisen in both chambers of Congress.Auto IRALegislation has been reintroduced in both the House and the Senate that would formally enact President Obama’s federal automatic IRA...
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When Callan Associates surveyed plan sponsors in early 2014, more than a third of the respondents said they would make changes to their target date funds during the coming year. The firm’s just-released 2015 survey shows that many of those sponsors were true to their word.According to the survey,...
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It’s no longer just states that are looking at the notion of expanding private sector retirement plan coverage.New York City Public Advocate Letitia James on Feb. 26 introduced legislation creating a commission of experts to study the establishment of a pension fund for private sector workers in...
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If the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has its way, plan sponsors will have a new reporting obligation to the Department of Labor. Specifically, GAO recommends that DOL improve oversight by requiring plan sponsors to notify the agency when they implement lump sum windows, and coordinate with...
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A 401(k) revenue-sharing lawsuit finally got its day before the U.S. Supreme Court.While the nation’s high court was ostensibly focused on how ERISA’s statute of limitations was to be applied in challenging fiduciary actions, there was also a brisk discussion among the justices about the what, how...
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“Don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater” is an old — perhaps worn-out — cliché, but nevertheless sometimes it’s apt. And as the Obama Administration unveils the fiduciary rule reproposal, ASPPA CEO and Executive Director Brian Graff has warned that the regulations could have serious and...
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Today President Obama, as expected, will throw his support behind the Department of Labor’s (DOL) controversial fiduciary rule reproposal — but the details of the proposal remain elusive.Published reports indicate that the president will tout the reproposed rule at a speech today at the offices of...
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The Department of Labor’s much-anticipated fiduciary reproposal drew intense criticism Feb. 20 from SEC Commissioner Daniel M. Gallagher.Gallagher’s comments, made at the “SEC Speaks in 2015” event, were particularly harsh — not only regarding the potential impact of the DOL’s proposed extension of...
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Exceptions should not be the rule, at least not when it comes to the Department of Labor’s (DOL) fiduciary regulation reproposal, according to a new white paper from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
As part of a Feb. 20 event focusing on the “potential harmful impact of fiduciary regulation on...
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If the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs has its way, the Department of Labor has some ’splaining to do on its fiduciary regulation reproposal.In a Feb. 5 letter from Committee Chairman Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) to Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez, the committee requests that...
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The White House memo on the DOL’s proposal to redefine what constitutes a fiduciary continues to engender negative reaction. Tim Pawlenty, CEO of the Financial Services Roundtable, weighed in on Jan. 28, according to ThinkAdvisor, calling the memo “overly broad” in its condemnation of the financial...
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Your clients offer 401(k) plans, and all have 401(k) plan committees. Those committees have fiduciary responsibility, and it’s in your clients’ interest to make sure they are fulfilling their duties. They can do that through meetings of those committees and quarterly reviews, our friends at the...
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The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) was not arbitrary and capricious when it concluded that Kentucky Bancshares was obliged to comply with the Section 1107 of the Pension Protection Act (PPA) as well as ERISA’s standard termination requirements when it terminated its retirement plan and...
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Funding levels of pension plans sponsored by the S&P 1500 fell by 9 percentage points in 2014, from 88% to 79%. According to Mercer, the plans’ collective deficits more than doubled last year, reaching $504 billion at year-end.The plans had been doing well in 2014, Mercer said, having benefited...
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The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has outlined the conditions for determining the existence of a partial plan termination, ruling on the fifth appeal of what it called a “seemingly interminable class action suit.”The ruling came in a case filed just two months short of 19 years ago, in which...
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Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan (D) is arguing that the Land of Lincoln has “police powers” that allow it to change a contract in extraordinary circumstances, including changes to the state’s public pensions contained in a 2013 pension overhaul.Madigan is appealing a lower court ruling that...
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The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) on Jan. 12 issued a draft of the 2015 premium filing form and instructions. It provides information for plans paying premiums for plan years beginning in 2015, including instructions for all the particular forms of data that must be reported.The...
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The Department of Labor has announced that on Jan. 15, 2015 it will hold a hearing on whether Credit Suisse affiliates can serve as qualified professional asset managers (QPAMs). The DOL is considering this matter in light of Credit Suisse’s Sept. 3, 2014 guilty plea to one count of conspiracy to...
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