The effective date of the DOL’s new expansive fiduciary rule and the amendments to Prohibited Transaction Exemption (PTE) 2020-02 has been stayed pending the outcome of the lawsuits challenging the rule and the amended PTE....more
9/12/2024
/ Broker-Dealer ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Fiduciary Rule ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
Investment Adviser ,
IRA Rollovers ,
Prohibited Transactions ,
PTEs ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Retirement Plan
Two recent Texas court decisions stayed the fast-approaching September 23, 2024, effective date of the DOL’s new fiduciary rule (including both the new regulation re-defining “fiduciary” investment advice and the related...more
The DOL has proposed amendments to its regulation defining fiduciary advice so that, in most cases, a single recommendation to a retirement investor will be a fiduciary act. In addition, the DOL has proposed amendments to ...more
4/18/2024
/ Broker-Dealer ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Investment ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investors ,
IRA Rollovers ,
Mitigation ,
Prohibited Transactions ,
PTEs ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Retirement Plan
On April 3, 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) published an updated final version of prohibited transaction class exemption 84-14, also known as the qualified professional asset manager exemption (PTCE 84-14 or the QPAM...more
Broker-dealers and their registered representatives (advisors) providing services to private sector tax-qualified and ERISA-governed retirement plans, participants in those plans and IRA owners (collectively, Retirement...more
2/21/2024
/ Competition ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Disclosure ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
Investors ,
Prohibited Transactions ,
Proposed Amendments ,
PTEs ,
Retirement Plan
Under Regulation Best Interest (Reg BI), the SEC imposes a best interest standard on account recommendations by broker-dealers. This is because recommending an account type is viewed by the SEC as recommending an investment...more
7/21/2023
/ Best Interest Standard ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Fiduciary ,
Investment ,
Investment Adviser ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Prohibited Transactions ,
Regulation Best Interest ,
Regulation BI ,
Risk Mitigation ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
The Broker-Dealer Regulation & Litigation Digest is a periodic compilation of the most read blog posts published on the Broker-Dealer Law Blog during the last few months. Here you can catch up on what you missed or re-read...more
The Department of Labor (the DOL) expanded its interpretation of fiduciary advice in its guidance issued in connection with Prohibited Transaction Exemption (PTE) 2020-02. As a result, many more broker-dealers and registered...more
3/23/2023
/ Broker-Dealer ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Florida ,
Investment Adviser ,
IRA Rollovers ,
Prohibited Transactions ,
Registered Investment Advisors ,
Retirement Plan ,
State and Local Government
The current DOL fiduciary rule says that a broker-dealer and its registered representatives (advisors) are fiduciaries to a plan under ERISA if a functional 5-part test is satisfied. This same 5-part test applies to...more
2/22/2023
/ Broker-Dealer ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Fiduciary Rule ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
Investment Adviser ,
IRA Rollovers ,
Proposed Amendments ,
Proposed Regulation ,
PTEs ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Retirement Plan
The SEC and the DOL have separately issued guidance on rollover recommendations – however, a close examination indicates that the guidance by both agencies is very similar. The SEC’s guidance for broker-dealers is in...more
The DOL expanded its interpretation of fiduciary advice in the Preamble to PTE 2020-02 and as a result, many more broker-dealers and their registered representatives (investment professionals) are fiduciaries for their...more
9/13/2022
/ Broker-Dealer ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary ,
Fiduciary Rule ,
Investment ,
IRA Rollovers ,
Prohibited Transactions ,
PTEs ,
Registered Investment Advisors ,
Self-Correction Programs ,
Standard of Care
The DOL’s prohibited transaction exemption (PTE) 2020-02 (Improving Investment Advice for Workers & Retirees), allows broker-dealers and their registered representatives (advisors) to receive conflicted compensation resulting...more
7/27/2022
/ Best Interest Standard ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Compensation ,
Compliance ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Exemptions ,
Financial Institutions ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
Investors ,
Mitigation ,
Prohibited Transactions ,
Retirement
It may be a New Year, but 2022 is going to seem very familiar to Broker-Dealers (BD) and their Registered Representatives who advise retirement plans and IRAs: they are going to be spending a lot of time working to comply...more
1/11/2022
/ Broker-Dealer ,
Compliance ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Exemptions ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Fiduciary Rule ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
Investment Adviser ,
IRA Rollovers ,
PTEs ,
Retirement Plan
Our recent blog post compared the SEC’s standard of conduct for broker-dealers under Regulation Best Interest (Reg BI) with the standard of conduct for registered investment advisers (RIAs) under the SEC’s Interpretation...more
10/21/2020
/ Broker-Dealer ,
Compliance ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary-Standards ,
Financial Institutions ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Prohibited Transactions ,
Registered Investment Advisors ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Standard of Conduct
The Department of Labor (DOL) recently issued guidance in the form of an Information Letter describing the process that plan fiduciaries should undertake in determining whether an investment fund having a private equity...more
10/14/2020
/ 401k ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Diversification Requirements ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Information Letters ,
Investment ,
Liquidity ,
Oversight Duties ,
Private Equity ,
Retirement Plan ,
Valuation
The Department of Labor (DOL) issued final electronic disclosure rules for retirement plans on May 27, 2020 (2020 Safe Harbor). We are already fielding questions about these new rules and have provided answers here to some of...more
The standard of care for rollover recommendations has been top of mind for broker-dealers beginning with the issuance of the Department of Labor’s (DOL’s) now vacated fiduciary rule, and more recently with the SEC’s...more
8/27/2019
/ Broker-Dealer ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Fiduciary Rule ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Investment Adviser ,
IRA Rollovers ,
Regulation Best Interest ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Standard of Care