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Data & Research January 21, 2011
SPARK Proposes Update to Info-Sharing Best Practices
The SPARK Institute released a draft of updates it intends to make regarding information-sharing best practices for 403(b) plans and has asked for comments.
Reported by Rebecca Moore
Larry Goldbrum, General Counsel, said one proposed update is for data transmission to occur on a weekly basis instead of monthly. This is in response to industry requests for more up-to-date data when monitoring plan activity and approving transactions. It also suggests approaches for transmitting daily file updates as either a full file refresh or partial file refresh (Daily Delta Files) when the affected parties specifically agree.
“In order to facilitate an effective transition, this update will not become effective until October 1, 2011, providing all interested parties time for review and to make any changes they deem necessary,” Goldbrum said. He also said that the update incorporates answers to certain questions concerning the Best Practices that had been posted on The SPARK Institute website. The document is posted at http://www.sparkinstitute.org/comments-and-materials.php.
Goldbrum noted that companies do not have to be SPARK Institute members to comment on the document; SPARK encourages comments from all interested parties in the 403(b) plans community. Comments are due by Tuesday, February 1, and should be submitted to data-elements@sparkinstitute.org.