‘Peeps’ Try to Peck Through a Pension Shell
A Pennsylvania maker of colored marshmallow ‘chicks’ wants to be the first company in a ‘closed MEP’ pension plan to stay in the plan but put all new hires...
Regulations/Legal
‘Excessive fee’ case against Yale to continue
Yale is among more than a dozen universities to be sued over the past 30 months for allegedly failing to reduce the costs of their 401(k) plans and...
Hold the Parade
Annuity industry advocates say that this week's Fifth District Court of Appeals ruling has nullified the DOL fiduciary rule. Others disagree. I question Judge Jones' understanding of how the...
What the Divergent DOL Rulings Mean: Wagner
'Even though there is not a clear conflict among the Circuits, this case will likely be heard by the Supreme Court,' said ERISA attorney Marcia Wagner after judges in...
Legal Limbo: Attorneys Await DOL Resolution
At the ALI-CLE's recent conference on securities and insurance law, Tim Pfeifer described new developments in the annuity world. Todd Solash and Merry Mosbacher spoke for and against...
A heads-up from Wagner Law on the fiduciary rule
In a new posting, ERISA expert Marcia Wagner helps financial advisers and financial institutions answer the question, 'What do I do during the Transition Period?'
ERISA lawyers explain latest DOL moves
'The most interesting change is that... the adviser can avoid calling itself a fiduciary during the transition period, even if it is providing fiduciary advice,' said the Client Alert...
Two new House bills would alter Obama fiduciary rule
One bill would mitigate adviser conflicts of interest with new disclosure requirements. The other was a funding bill that included a provision not to enforce the existing fiduciary rule,...
LPL will flatten advisor compensation on mutual fund sales
'Other financial firms have limited or even fully removed brokerage options for retirement investors. But when brokerage is in the best interest of your client, we’re providing a solution,'...
Lawsuit accuses oil and gas firm of not using Vanguard’s cheapest funds
Participants in Pioneer Natural Resources USA's 401(k) plan accuse the sponsor of offering them Vanguard's retail share class funds instead of institutional share class funds and failing to negotiate...
Cloudy with a Chance of Lawsuits
If the fiduciary rule and its Best Interest Contract Exemption are here to stay, will they trigger a wave of lawsuits against advisory firms? No one seems to know...
In fiduciary suit, Northrop Grumman settles with participants for $16.75 million
The settlement does not cover claims raised in Marshall v. Northrop Grumman Corp., a second case against Northrop filed by Schlichter, Bogard & Denton on September 9, 2016.
DOL Hints at Regulatory ‘Relief’ for Indexed Annuities
'Allowing all annuity products to be covered by PTE 84-24 ... could be a signal in terms of where a revision to the rule...
DOL provides “significant relief” on fiduciary rule: Wagner Law Group
'This approach essentially eliminates the need for transition agreements, disclosures, and certain structural changes (such as the appointment of a BICE officer) that were formerly required to be in...
The Fiduciary Rule Delay and Legal Exposure: One Law Firm’s Opinion
This bulletin, written by attorneys at the DrinkerBiddle law firm, interprets the DOL's latest Field Assistance Bulletin regarding the likely delay in the applicability date of the fiduciary rule....
DOL Hears Public Comments on Fiduciary Rule (Again)
Brokers and insurance agents told the Department of Labor to kill the fiduciary rule, but robo-advisors such as Financial Engines and Betterment still favored it, as did private citizens,...
No Quick End to Fiduciary Rule Story
The DOL wants your comments again. It wants to know how much companies have spent on adapting to the rule, and whether it would be cheaper to abandon the...
Kill Bills: Republicans attack ‘safe harbor’ for state auto-IRAs plans
The move was applauded by the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors and the Investment Company Institute. It was condemned by the National Conference on Public Employee Retirement...
Is (or Isn’t) Time Running Out for the Fiduciary Rule?
Three benefits attorneys told RIJ this week that the DOL's fiduciary rule became effective last June, and that it may be hard to stop the rule--or even delay the...
Federal Judge Upholds Obama Fiduciary Rule
Ignoring a Trump administration request to delay her ruling, Chief Judge Barbara Lynn of the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division, rejected industry arguments that the Obama Department of...
