11.12.2023 03.30 CST
Recent court decision reiterates that provider fees are reasonable only of fiduciaries understand all income received by a provider as the result of providing services to a plan.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently clarified fiduciaries’ obligation to consider all revenue received by a provider—even indirect revenue from third parties. The ruling relies heavily on 2012 DOL regulations and could prompt fiduciaries to be more insistent in obtaining comprehensive disclosure from providers on all their sources of income.
14.12.2022 09.06 CST
New DOL guidance seeks to clarify relationship between ESG factors and ERISA fiduciary requirements.
The U.S. Department of Labor has issued new final regulations that attempt (once again) to clarify how plan fiduciaries can consider the use of environmental, social and governance factors (“ESG”) in making plan investment decisions. The goal of these new final regulations was to walk back regulations, finalized during the waning days of the Trump administration in December 2020, that placed obstacles in the way of fiduciaries considering the use of ESG factors.
15.07.2020 11.54 CDT
New DOL guidance would provide advisors with incentives to sell commissionable products.
DOL Completes Trifecta of Questionable Policies
The DOL’s new guidance reinstates prior definition of investment fiduciary and offers new exemption for (otherwise prohibited) forms of compensation for plan fiduciaries.
The Department of Labor has issued new guidance defining when an investment adviser is a plan fiduciary--and the standards that must be followed by investment fiduciaries. The guidance reinstates a 1975 test defining investment fiduciaries and proposes a new prohibited transaction exemption allowing fiduciaries to collect commissions and third-party payments.