If the DOL requires the 401k plan fiduciary to ignore a fund’s investment performance, but the SEC still requires funds to disclose that performance, which will 401k investors choose? More importantly, who’s left holding the liability bag?
Tag "DOL"
Will Congress, the SEC and the DOL upgrade the current fiduciary standard to the trust model used by bank trust departments so successfully for more than a century?
Should indirect fees matter? Academics may argue, but regulators will have the final say. Unfortunately, different definitions of fees only confound the ERISA fiduciary.
Under the DOL’s proposed Investment Advice Rule, if a plan enters into a prohibited relationship with a vendor – or if an existing relationship now becomes prohibited – fiduciary liability rises. Can the 401k fiduciary afford to ignore these critical issues?
Are you breathing a sigh of relief? Commentators seem to have coalesced around several key benefits of this proposed Rule. Can you see these helping your plan’s participants?
The question now on the mind of every 401k fiduciary: Will the DOL’s new rule increase my personal fiduciary liability?
Why wait until now to bring up the three-month old blog? The bigger question, however, remains, “How should a 401k fiduciary analyze mutual fund fees?”
Many feel the DOL rightly reversed earlier rules that allowed for too many potential conflicts-of-interest. But, will any new DOL guidelines only encourage a “cookie-cutter” approach, doing the investor more harm than good?
SEC’s Mary Shapiro: “When it comes to 12b-1 fees, there is a need for more fundamental change than mere disclosure reforms and a name change.” FiduciaryNews’ exploration of this hot potato reveals a surprising misconception.
A typical 401k plan fiduciary has no doubt read about this new product. Fiduciary News goes deeper to reveal answers to some of the more critical questions the astute fiduciary might have about BrightScope’s Personal Fee Report.