Compliance March 15, 2016

Fiduciary Ordered to Restore Misused Assets to Retirement Plan

Even after a previous compliant filed by the DOL, a fiduciary to the Applied Technology Systems Retirement Plan transferred plan assets to a company account.
Reported by

A plan fiduciary has been ordered to restore $111,331.71 to the Applied Technology Systems Inc. Retirement Plan.

The Department of Labor (DOL) had previously filed a lawsuit for Clark V. Hayes’ failure to segregate and remit employee contributions to the plan in violation of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). Hayes is a fiduciary to the plan. A default judgment was entered in that suit in July 2015.

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According to the DOL, Hayes subsequently improperly transferred $210,662.18 of the plan’s assets from a plan account to an account in the name of the company and then used $98,581.75 of the amount for non-plan purposes. In order to protect the remaining assets of the plan, a default judgment signed September 17, 2015, appointed an independent fiduciary to take control of the assets held in the company account.

Now, a new judgment orders Hayes to restore $111,331.71 to the plan. This amount represents the improperly transferred plan assets that the independent fiduciary could not recover and lost opportunity costs. In addition, the judgment bars Hayes and the company from serving as a fiduciary or service provider to any ERISA-covered employee benefit plan in the future.

The court’s judgment can be viewed here.

Products March 15, 2016

Cetera Rolls Out Retirement Platform for Advisers

Cetera Financial Group has finished developing its retirement plan solutions platform for advisers.
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The Guided Retirement Solutions web portal is being rolled out to all Cetera’s broker/dealers, the firm says. 

Through the firm’s strategic partnership with Envestnet, Cetera will continue developing plan data aggregation and practice management technology. Another initiative is the network-wide launch of Cetera’s integrated ERISA plan consulting team and third-party administrator (TPA).

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According to Brett Harrison, executive vice president for adviser growth at Cetera Financial Group and chief executive officer of Cetera Advisors, the new platform’s top feature is that it provides a substantial framework for retirement plan-focused advisers to adapt rapidly and smoothly to whatever the new DOL ruling requires. 

“In particular, our platform covers the three pillars that retirement plan-focused advisers will need to grow and succeed in a post-DOL environment,” Harrison tells PLANADVISER. “The right advisory products and solutions; technology support in the form of online practice management tools, data aggregation and compliance supervisory software; and personalized, expert consulting support in the form of a full-time team of 40 staff members dedicated exclusively to support, guide and educate advisers within the retirement plan space.”

Winning and retaining retirement plan business requires specialized knowledge, skills and technology, especially with significant regulatory changes right around the corner, Harrison says.

The Cetera Guided Retirement Solutions (GRS) web portal is an online resource that provides marketing materials, training, white papers and other tools to help retirement plan advisers identify, win and service retirement plan clients. The portal walks advisers through five key aspects of the retirement plan services market in order to help advisers build their skills and grow their businesses, whether they are established experts or new to the sector, covering adviser education, marketing, prospecting, closing business, and service and retention. Cetera’s Guided Retirement Solutions portal is currently available to the entire Cetera Financial Group family of firms.

Advisers who act as fiduciaries for retirement plan clients have access to a consolidated dashboard that allows them to view their entire retirement plan business at once, while also feeding industry-leading due diligence tools; robust analytics capabilities including investment comparisons, benchmarking, and others; investment policy statement generation and a broad range of additional practice management features. Envestnet also provides Cetera with in-depth data aggregation to help the company track and analyze retirement plan data across its network.

The company’s effort to provide advisers with best-in-class retirement plan solutions includes the rollout of Cetera Retirement Plan Specialists, an ERISA plan consulting firm and a dedicated TPA. Formerly known as First Allied Retirement Services and available only to First Allied advisers in the Cetera Financial Group network, the group is now seamlessly integrated with Cetera advisers’ retirement services practices in order to help them address complex plan design and administration challenges, evaluate their existing TPA service providers, and win new retirement plan business.

More information is on the Cetera website.

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