Why Small 401(k) Plans Should Remain Wary of Hidden Fees
Advisers should identify key fee drivers to protect participant outcomes, particularly for plans of less than $1 billion.
Tag: Fees
ERISA Complaint Against AT&T Returned for Review by Appeals Court
A complaint alleging AT&T’s benefits committee failed to properly report brokerage commission paid to Fidelity has been remanded back to...
Verizon Settles 401(k) Complaint for $30M
The agreement is still pending court approval but would end 7-year court case.
Compliance Analysis
How to Avoid Fee Conflicts
Wealth managers can look to ERISA and the tax code for guidance.
Equitable Financial Settles SEC Charges for $50M
The market regulator says the firm provided misleading account statements to investors.
Birdthistle Takes Helm at SEC Division of Investment Management
SEC Chair Gary Gensler says he looks forward to working closely with William Birdthistle, an at-times harsh critic of the mutual fund industry, to plan and execute a...
Mississippi Is Latest State to Embrace NAIC Annuity Sales Rules
Supporters of the NAIC annuity transaction suitability model say a fiduciary-only approach to annuity purchase advice would limit consumer choice—a claim its opponents dispute.
The Fiduciary Insurance Market Crunch Matters for Everyone
In a Q&A with PLANADVISER, expert benefits attorney Erin Turley points to a critical emerging challenge for the retirement plan...
Schwab Faces Failure-To-Monitor Scrutiny in Massachusetts
The firm is accused of failing to take sufficient steps to monitor customer accounts for further payments to a former adviser—himself accused of substantial wrongdoing—whose registration last lapsed...
DOL Investigation Lessons Learned From Long Experience
Drawing on their collective decades of experience working inside and outside the DOL, a panel of expert ERISA attorneys convened...
Regulatory & compliance | investments
How 3(38) Advising Profits Clients
Investment management turns up inefficiencies, takes on some risk, and more.
Common Mistakes Advisers Make That Should be Avoided
Experts outline several ways advisers can ensure they keep the loyalty of their clients.
What to Expect From a Biden Appointee-Led SEC
A former Securities and Exchange Commission litigator who was at the regulator during the transition from the Clinton administration to...
Arkansas Is Latest State to Consider NAIC Annuity Sales Standards
The state’s Insurance Department Rule 82, which may soon be updated to match a suitability framework recently adopted by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, seeks to address...
How COVID-19 Volatility and Near-Zero Rates Benefit Annuities
In the current market environment, safe assets simply do not pay what they once did, but that doesn’t mean annuities have become less attractive. In fact, on a...
Salesforce Ruling Offers Key Lessons About Revenue Sharing, Fee Litigation
The dismissal ruling pushes back against overly broad claims suggesting that actively managed mutual funds and revenue sharing are inherently...
Salesforce Defeats ERISA Excessive Fee Litigation
A district court in California has proven to be skeptical of claims suggesting that active management funds are categorically imprudent retirement plan investments; the ruling also defends the...
New Excessive Fee Suit Alleges Familiar 401(k) and 403(b) Plan Breaches
Allegations in the lawsuit against Barnabas Health closely parrot other proposed class action complaints filed in the past year against health care systems by the law firm Capozzi...
Future Trends in CIT Product Development
Although collective investment trusts hold a fraction of the total assets in retirement plans, with ongoing changes in the broader...
SEC Staff: COVID-19 Creates New Compliance Considerations
Market volatility related to COVID-19 may have heightened the risk of misconduct in various areas that the SEC staff believes merit additional attention from advisers and compliance professionals.