PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Tax Relief and Possible Retirement Plan Resources for Hurricane Victims
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - New IRS Guidance on SECURE 2.0 Act Student Loan Employer Contributions
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - ERISA Forfeiture Litigation
La Reforma Pensional en Colombia
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Understanding Lifetime Income Products
Multiemployer Pension Plans in Mergers and Acquisitions — Troutman Pepper Podcast
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Trends in Recordkeeper Consolidation and Due Diligence
Long-Term Part-Time Employee Eligibility Rules Now in Effect — Troutman Pepper Podcast
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - What the J&J Case Means for Plan Administrators
#WorkforceWednesday: SECURE 2.0 Act - Navigating New Retirement Plan Provisions in 2024 - Employment Law This Week®
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - SECURE 2.0: Leveraging Opportunities Employees Want Most
What Can A Tax Attorney Do For You? A Podcast With Janathan Allen
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Understanding Fees in Retirement Planning
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - ESG Investing by Retirement Plans
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - New Federal Rule Aims to Hold Investment Advisors to a Higher Standard
Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation: Getting Ready for 2024 - Health and Welfare Plan Developments — Special Edition Podcast
Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation: Getting Ready for 2024 - Qualified Plans — Special Edition Podcast
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Auto-Portability: A New Way to Keep Retirement Savings Growing
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - IRS 2024 Health Plan Affordability Threshold May Put Some at Risk
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Partial Plan Terminations
The stay of the effective dates of the amended fiduciary regulation and amended exemptions means that the “old” fiduciary regulation (the 5-part test) and the amended exemptions continue in effect indefinitely. As a result,...more
The Department of Labor has issued its final regulation defining fiduciary status for investment advice to retirement investors and the related exemptions for prohibited conflicts—PTE 2020-02 and 84-24. The exemptions provide...more
On April 23, 2024, the US Department of Labor (DOL) released its Final Rule 4.0 regarding ERISA fiduciary investment advice, including amended exemptions for conflicted investment advice. Our initial analysis of the Final...more
The Department of Labor issued a final release (the “Final Release”) which (1) finalized changes to its 1975 rule defining when institutions and individuals are providing fiduciary “investment advice” to plans that are...more
Over the last several years, numerous large pension plan sponsors have transferred billions of dollars in financial risk related to their pension plan benefit obligations to insurance companies through the purchase of group...more
The U.S. Department of Labor has released its package of proposed changes to the regulation defining nondiscretionary fiduciary advice and to the exemptions for conflicts and compensation for investment recommendations to...more
The DOL has issued FAQs that generally explain PTE 2020-02 and the expanded definition of fiduciary advice. In FAQ 17, the DOL discusses both the implications of payout grids and mitigation techniques to minimize...more
The US Department of Labor (DOL) recently issued guidance concerning a new exemption under the prohibited transaction provisions of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) in connection with the provision...more
The Department of Labor’s “Fiduciary Rule,” PTE 2020-02: An Overview - This article is an overview of the requirements of PTE 2020-02. It discusses the expanded fiduciary definition, the conditions in the PTE, and the...more
As described in our recent blog posts, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) recently issued guidance in the form of FAQs to address questions concerning the practical application of PTE 2020-02, Improving Investment Advice for...more
On February 16, 2021, the DOL’s prohibited transaction exemption (PTE) 2020-02 became effective. The PTE is titled “Improving Investment Advice for Workers & Retirees.” It allows investment advisers, broker-dealers, banks,...more
The U.S. Department of Labor (the “DOL”) on June 29, 2020 issued a release (the “Release”) proposing an important new initiative for retirement accounts (“Plans”) that are subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security...more
On March 15, the Fifth Circuit, in Chamber of Commerce, et. al. v. United States Department of Labor, a 46-page opinion, reversed the district court’s ruling upholding the Department of Labor (DOL) fiduciary rule and vacated...more
As reported in our November 28 client alert, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ (NAIC) Annuity Suitability Working Group (Suitability WG) circulated the proposed Suitability and Best Interest Standard of...more
For the past several months, we have written about potential litigation issues under the “revised temporary” DOL Rule involving the offer and sale of annuities in the IRA market. This article continues that discussion. ...more
For the past several months, we have written about potential litigation issues under the “revised temporary” DOL Rule involving the offer and sale of annuities in the IRA market. This article continues that discussion. Recall...more
The U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury) recently released a report examining the regulatory framework for the asset management and insurance industries (Report). The Report is the third in a series of four reports that...more
On April 8, the Department of Labor published the so-called "Fiduciary Rule." It defines who is an employee benefit plan’s "fiduciary" for purposes of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and the Internal...more
Previously, I wrote about potential litigation under the Department of Labor’s then proposed fiduciary rule (see Expect Focus, Vol. II, 2015). I predicted the following as to sales of index annuities to IRAs if the rule was...more
The 8th Circuit's recent decision on "excessive fees" under ERISA, titled McCaffree v. Principal Life, is instructive for three reasons: - First, it adds to the line of circuit court precedents holding that an insurance...more
The class action complaint titled Bell v. Anthem, Inc., et al. (S.D. Indiana) raises a number of novel ERISA allegations that could be a preview of the future, especially if the DOL fiduciary rule is adopted this year. ...more
The insurance industry’s short-term strategy to oppose the Department of Labor’s proposed investment advisor fiduciary duty rule centered on a defunding initiative as part of the year-end appropriations process. That...more
Retirement Plans - IRS Issues Guidance on Benefit Suspension Voting under MPRA - As we have written in prior alerts, the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014 (MPRA) permits trustees of financially troubled...more
Below is an update on the "excessive fee" cases under section 36(b) of the Investment Company Act of 1940. Most of these complaints are now proceeding on the "sub-adviser" theory: that annuity contract-holders pay...more
The U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL“) recently heard public comment to its proposed regulatory changes implementing a fiduciary duty on any individual receiving compensation for advice tailored to a plan sponsor, participant...more