13.05.2024 01.08 CDT
DOL Tries (Again) to Replace 1975 Rules and Redefine ERISA Investment Fiduciaries.
The United States Department of Labor has finalized new rules defining who is an investment fiduciary under ERISA. These new final rules mark the latest effort (started in 2010) to update a fiduciary definition that was initially adopted in 1975. The DOL also issued a new exemption allowing these fiduciaries to engage in certain transactions (such as accepting commissions) that would otherwise be prohibited.
10.11.2023 02.56 CST
DOL takes another swing at redefining investment fiduciaries
The DOL has proposed regulations updating the definition of investment fiduciary. The proposed regulation seeks to create a uniform standard applicable to all investment advice provided to ERISA plans and to IRAs
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.
10.05.2018 06.37 CDT
The SEC’s proposed new rules require broker-dealers’ obligations to act in customers’ “best interests.” The SEC proposal, in some ways, fills some of the gaps created by the recent court decision to invalidate DOL regulations expanding the definition of ERISA “fiduciary.”
The SEC Enters the Fiduciary Fray
The SEC has now weighed into this fiduciary fray, proposing new rules governing the behavior of broker-dealers.
The SEC has proposed new rules governing the behavior of broker-dealers. Under this proposal a broker- dealer “shall act in the best interest of the retail customer . . . . without placing the financial or other interest of the [broker-dealer] ahead of the retail customer.” The primary requirements of “best interest” are that broker-dealers disclose fee structures and not place their financial interests ahead of customers’ interests.
08.05.2018 07.03 CDT
The latest court decision invalidating the DOL’s proposed rewrite of the fiduciary rules adds more uncertainty for plan fiduciaries. How do fiduciaries get past the “noise” of conflicting courts and regulators and go about the business of protect plan interests?
Nature Abhors a Vacuum – and So Should Fiduciaries
Conflicting court opinions, dueling regulators and uncertain direction from the executive branch are making it harder for plan fiduciaries to do their jobs.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit decision to invalidate the DOL’s new fiduciary rule is the latest in a string of confusing (and often conflicting) messages to plan fiduciaries. However, fiduciary duties under ERISA are grounded in some core principles that have not changed. The legal confusion surrounding certain fiduciary issues cannot obstruct fiduciaries’ execution of those duties.