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Products June 28, 2011
Nationwide Expands Fiduciary Offerings
Nationwide Financial is expanding its lineup of fiduciary tools and
services for retirement plan sponsors and financial professionals with a
3(38) Investment Fiduciary Service from IRON Financial.
Reported by PLANADVISER staff
The addition comes after Nationwide surveyed its plan sponsors and found that half see managing fiduciary risk as one of their top three challenges.
Under section 3(38) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), an investment manager is given authority to direct and monitor investment options for a retirement plan. This new service enables plan sponsors to transfer the responsibility and legal liabilities associated with the selection and monitoring of investment options to IRON Financial, which offers fully independent fiduciary services as a component of its retirement plan platform, providing plan sponsors with relief from investment liability.
The service also provides support to financial professionals as the industry prepares for new regulations that will require financial advisers to disclose whether they act as a fiduciary and, if so, in what capacity.
“Investment selection and the ongoing due diligence are important, and often intimidating, fiduciary responsibilities for a plan sponsor,” said Anne Arvia, senior vice president of Retirement Plans for Nationwide Financial.