Compliance January 29, 2010

ING Program to Help Advisers, TPAs Build Businesses

ING’s U.S. Retirement Services business has unveiled a business-building program for advisers, consultants, and third-party administrators (TPA) for small- and mid-sized corporate retirement plans.
Reported by

An ING news release said each part of the suite of practice-development tools and resources is accompanied by an actionable sales idea.

“It’s not enough anymore to give our distribution contacts access to research and innovation;  they now need something tangible to do with these resources to differentiate themselves in the market,” said Bill Elmslie, executive vice president of Intermediary Sales and Service for ING, in the announcement.

The resources focus on three categories: sales ideas and business-building tools; thought leadership; and behavior-changing technology and educational applications.

A Statement of Services available to send to clients can incorporate such details as the services they intend to provide and their philosophy relating to consulting, conversion and ongoing installation. Advisers may also include their industry experience and qualifications, and customize the statement with a firm logo and contact information.

The offering also includes a series of ING practice management seminars on topics such as Fiduciary Responsibility, Trends in Retirement Plan Administration, and projects from the ING Institute for Retirement Research.

The program also features a series of participant seminars, as well as a trio of retirement planning calculators:

  • INGYourNumber.com helps calculate the total amount of money one needs to save by the time they retire;
  • INGCompareme.com  helps participants see where they stand in relation to others on a wide range of saving, spending, investing, debt and personal finance matters; and
  • My Retirement Outlook is a retirement and paycheck analysis tool that integrates traditional pension plan assets, Social Security benefits, and personal savings, and also identifies potential gaps in retirement funding.

More information is available at 866-481-3653, option 4.

Compliance January 29, 2010

Court Allows Beneficiary Switch for Annuity Contracts

A federal judge in Pennsylvania has ruled that a participant in TIAA-CREF annuity contracts met the requirements to change his beneficiary from his ex-wife to his long-time friend.
Reported by

U.S. District Judge Stewart Dalzell of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania found that participant John L. Turner had “substantially” complied with TIAA-CREF’s requirements for a beneficiary designation change from ex-wife Pamela Turner to a friend, Thomas Bernardo. Turner, a physician and a professor at several Philadelphia-area universities, lived with Bernardo for 27 years before Turner’s death, according to the court.

Dalzell ruled that Turner had adequately communicated his wishes about his beneficiary to TIAA-CREF including twice sending the investment company written notice of his intention to make the change.

The court also ruled that Turner had substantially complied with TIAA-CREF requirements under New York and Pennsylvania state law, asserting that substantial compliance was the proper standard to determine the beneficiary of a benefit plan under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).

TIAA-CREF asked the court to determine the proper beneficiary of the five annuity contracts Turner owned when he died in 2008. Both Bernardo and Pamela Turner claimed they were the proper recipient.

The case is Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America v. Bernardo, E.D. Pa., No. 09-911, 1/26/10.

«