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Fiduciary Governance
Editor’s Note: This is the second in a two-part series about service providers’ audits of clients and their plans. The first installment is here.
Audits may be a frightening and painful experience from the perspective of plan administrators and plan sponsors. But what does it look like from the...
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Oct. 15 has finally passed. A day even spookier than Halloween! Which explains all the treats in the kitchen area at work for those hard at work on their 5500s.
Let’s take a flashback to our May issue in which Tiffany Myers, Manager, Actuarial Services at the Cash Balance Center of Excellence,...
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An explanation and history of fiduciary liability insurance were among the topics addressed at the recent ERISA 403(b) Conference in Washington, D.C.
The panel discussion “Fiduciary Liability Insurance” featured Euclid Fiduciary’s Daniel Aronowitz, Sompo International’s Joe Kelly, and Marsh...
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The parties in a suit that claimed a $7.3 billion plan “stocked the Plan’s investment menu with their own proprietary index funds”—while “participants got the short end of the stick” have come to terms.
As it turns out, the plaintiffs in this case (are Rita Kohari, John Radolec and Mohani Jaikaran...
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For the second time in a month, a law firm has brought suit challenging the use of forfeitures in a 401(k) plan.
The lawyers are from Hayes Pawlenko LLP, a South Pasadena, CA-based duo (who met in law school, according to their website) positioning themselves as an employment litigation firm “...
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Service providers take care of the nuts and bolts and fine details of running a retirement plan. So what are plan sponsors looking for in a third party administrator? A recent blog entry offers a look.
In “10 Things to Look for in Retirement Plan Administration,” Kushner & Company suggests...
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Noting that "the settling parties agreed to the proposed settlement only after vigorous arm's-length negotiations between counsel experienced in ERISA class actions and under the auspices of … a third-party private mediator with extensive experience mediating ERISA actions”—the parties in yet...
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October is cybersecurity month, “something that pairs nicely with Oktoberfest,” American Retirement Association CEO Brian Graff joked during a panel called “Fulfilling Cybersecurity Oversight Requirements” at the ERISA 403(b) Conference in Washington, D.C. on Oct. 2.
It was a moment of levity in...
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Another federal judge has weighed the assertions made in an excessive fee suit—and found them lacking both in terms of a “meaningful benchmark,” and specificity of the claims made.
The Suit
The plaintiffs here—Jennifer R. Lard, John G. Juergens, Gerald L. Robinson, Scott W. Anderson, Thomas A....
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Many (if not most) defined contribution plan documents provide that the plan administrator may use forfeitures to reduce contributions, pay plan expenses, or allocate to participants as additional benefits.
In fact, the Treasury and IRS recently suggested that plans be drafted this way to avoid...
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Plaintiffs have had their appeal of a district court’s dismissal of their excessive fee suit rejected by the appellate court.
Appellants Cole Matney and Paul Watts[1]—participants in the Barrick Gold 401(k) plan—filed suit against Barrick Gold of North America, Inc., Barrick Gold’s Board of...
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Of course, laws and regulations, as well as fiduciary duty, spell responsibilities that must be fulfilled. But sometimes what one does not do is as important as what one does, an industry expert reminds.
It is helpful to not only know what to do but also what to avoid, argues Mark Olsen, Managing...
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The plaintiffs in one of the dozen or so cases involving the BlackRock Lifepath target-date funds (TDFs) have made it past the motion to dismiss stage.
In this case (Trauernicht et al. v. Genworth Financial Inc. et al., case number 3:22-cv-00532, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District...
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The importance of plan fees has been impossible to miss in recent years—just look at court dockets, if nothing else. And those plan fees can pose a challenge in fulfilling fiduciary duties.
Protecting 401(k) and 403 (b) participants from paying excessive fees is part of plan sponsors’ fiduciary...
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Noting that “a decision in this appeal has the potential to significantly affect Amici’s members, which include plan sponsors and fiduciaries…,” a group of industry trade groups has filed in support of fiduciaries and providers in a federal court.
More specifically, the ERISA Industry Committee (...
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The Department of Labor (DOL) sent a new version of a proposed fiduciary rule to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) late Sept. 8 for review.
Known officially as “Conflict of Interest in Investment Advice,” it would redefine fiduciary investment advice under ERISA.
According to a post on...
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Less than a year after being sued for the standard series of alleged missteps, the parties in an excessive fee suit have struck a “deal.”
The plaintiff bringing suit just a year ago was Grace Angelo (she was later joined in the action by Kerstin Thompson as a second class representative)—the...
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The two top Republican lawmakers serving on the House and Senate committees with jurisdiction over ERISA have called on the Department of Labor (DOL) to halt any further changes to the definition of fiduciary.
The Aug. 31 letter from Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), who is chair of the House Education...
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The allegations are familiar, as are the attorneys representing the plaintiffs—but this settlement proposal involves more than just money.
The proposed settlement comes in an action brought by plaintiffs Sarah Gamble, David Covington, Tansy Wilkerson, and Daisy Santiago (represented by Miller Shah...
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Pension risk transfers (PRTs) are, at their core, financial transactions. But there are other important factors to keep in mind when contemplating and conducting a PRT—among them, fiduciary responsibility.
With PRTs heating up lately, a discussion of how fiduciary duty factors in may be timely...
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