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545 Matching News Items
1.
DOL Finalizes Amendment to Fiduciary Advice Prohibited Transaction Exemption
October Three Consulting
May 14, 2024
October Three Consulting
May 14, 2024
"While the revision of the definition of advice fiduciary fundamentally changes/expands who is a fiduciary, the PTE had (in 2020) already largely anticipated this expansion, and the final 2024 changes to it are more in the nature of 'tweaks.' "
2.
Pension Finance Update, April 2024
October Three Consulting
May 6, 2024
October Three Consulting
May 6, 2024
"Pension finances were mixed during April, as higher interest rates largely offset the impact of lower stock markets ... Plan A improved less than 1% last month, ending April up more than 6% this year, while Plan B slipped a fraction of 1% in April but remains up more than 1% through the first four months of 2024."
3.
DOL Final QPAM Prohibited Transaction Exemption Expands Situations in Which a QPAM May Be Disqualified Because of 'Misconduct'
October Three Consulting
May 1, 2024
October Three Consulting
May 1, 2024
"[In] expanding the situations in which disqualification might happen and in increasing the QPAM's regulatory burden, the changes may in some circumstances and for some sponsors increase the costs of finding and retaining a QPAM and increase the possibility that a current and (from, e.g., the sponsor fiduciary's point of view) perfectly appropriate QPAM relationship may be disrupted."
4.
DOL Finalizes Fiduciary Advice Rule
October Three Consulting
Apr. 28, 2024
October Three Consulting
Apr. 28, 2024
"The rule/guidance package ... will turn many persons -- critically, call center operators affiliated with financial institutions -- who previously understood themselves to be 'just service providers' into 'advice fiduciaries.' ... Sponsors will want to ... discuss with their providers how they intend to comply with the new advice fiduciary rule/PTE.... [T]here may be situations in which sponsor officials themselves, e.g., discussing plan investment decisions with plan participants, might be considered advice fiduciaries."
5.
DOL Proposes 'Voluntary' Retirement Savings Lost and Found Information Collection Rules
October Three Consulting
Apr. 18, 2024
October Three Consulting
Apr. 18, 2024
"The simple way to think about this proposal is as a new set of plan reporting obligations of data that will be used to populate the [Retirement Savings Lost and Found], described by DOL as an 'online searchable database to reunite workers with retirement benefits earned over their working lives' ... [R]eporting is theoretically 'voluntary' and is to be done via an attachment to the 2023 Form 5500 that, however, 'would not be considered part of the Form 5500.' "
6.
Annuity Purchase Update, April 2024
October Three Consulting
Apr. 15, 2024
October Three Consulting
Apr. 15, 2024
"The average annuity purchase interest rates in April have remained consistent with the ongoing trend, with the average duration 7 rate at 4.80% and the average duration 15 rate at 4.74%, making it an opportune time to purchase annuities."
7.
Pension Finance Update, March 2024
October Three Consulting
Apr. 11, 2024
October Three Consulting
Apr. 11, 2024
"Pension finances enjoyed incremental improvement in March, rounding out another solid quarter. Higher stock markets outpaced higher liabilities, producing improvement in funded status of less than 1% for both model plans ... During the first quarter, Plan A improved 6% while the more conservative Plan B was up close to 2%."
8.
The DOL Brief in Litigation Challenging ESG Regulation: What Is a Tiebreaker?
October Three Consulting
Apr. 3, 2024
October Three Consulting
Apr. 3, 2024
"DOL's presentation of the tiebreaker rule ... raises a question ... Is it DOL's view that fund managers in liquid financial markets, in 'apply[ing] investment strategies that never require them to choose between alternatives that equally serve the plan's needs,' may only consider issues of risk and return and never consider 'collateral benefits?' " [Utah v. Su, No. 23-0016 (N.D. Tex. Sep. 21, 2023; on appeal to 5th Cir. No. 23-11097; brief for appellees filed Mar. 21, 2024)]
9.
Minimum Funding 2024: Interest Rate Relief Is Over (for Now)
October Three Consulting
Mar. 26, 2024
October Three Consulting
Mar. 26, 2024
"For more than a decade, 'interest rate relief' has cushioned the effect of declining interest rates on defined benefit plan liability valuations, by providing a floor on rates equal to the average of rates over the prior 25 years. Recent increases in interest rates have, however, brought them in line with the 25-year average ... [If] rates continue to rise, 25-year average funding 'relief' may in some cases actually limit a DB plan's ability to recognize that increase."
10.
AT&T Sued Over 2023 Pension Risk Transfer
October Three Consulting
Mar. 17, 2024
October Three Consulting
Mar. 17, 2024
"The lawsuit represents the first major challenge to a risk transfer of defined benefit plan obligations to a 'private equity-backed' insurer. It alleges that, in selecting Athene for this risk transfer, defendants breached their ERISA fiduciary duties of loyalty and prudence and, under [DOL] Interpretive Bulletin 95-1, their obligation to select the 'safest available annuity.' " [Piercy v. AT&T Inc., No. 24-10608 (D. Mass. complaint filed Mar. 11, 2024)]
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