The U.S. Department of Labor (the “DOL”), on December 29, 2016, issued Interpretive Bulletin 2016-1 (“IB 2016-1”) under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 ("ERISA") regarding the duties of fiduciaries under...more
The U.S. Department of Labor (the “DOL”) released two additional sets of FAQs on January 13, 2017 regarding the new “investment advice” regulation and related exemptions (the “Rule”) under the fiduciary provisions of the...more
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued in April 2016 the final version of its controversial “investment advice” regulation and various related exemptions (collectively, Final Rules), which are widely expected to have a...more
11/18/2016
/ Annuities ,
Asset Management ,
Best Interest Contract Exemptions ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Compensation Agreements ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Fiduciary Rule ,
Final Rules ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
Investment Adviser ,
Retirement Plan
The U.S. Department of Labor (the “DOL”) released its first set of FAQs (the “FAQs”) regarding the DOL’s recently finalized “investment advice” regulation and various related exemptions (collectively, the “Final Rules”) on...more
11/8/2016
/ Best Interest Contract Exemptions ,
Compensation Agreements ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Exceptions ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Fiduciary Rule ,
Final Rules ,
Insurance Industry ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
Investment Adviser ,
Prohibited Transactions
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued the final version of its “fiduciary investment advice” regulation (Final Rule) on April 6, 2016, following a lengthy proposal and re-proposal process. Although the Final Rule reflects...more
10/25/2016
/ 401k ,
Best Interest Contract Exemptions ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Delays ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Fiduciary Rule ,
Final Rules ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
Mutual Funds ,
Retirement Plan
The Department of Labor (DOL) has issued the final version of its “investment advice” regulation (Final Rule), which is widely expected to impact significantly the financial services industry, including registered investment...more
8/30/2016
/ 401k ,
Best Interest Contract Exemptions ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Distribution Rules ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary Rule ,
Final Rules ,
Financial Adviser ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
Mutual Funds ,
Registered Investment Companies (RICs)
The recent opinion by the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts on remand from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in the Sun Capital Partners case may be troubling to private equity funds and...more
The U.S. Department of Labor (the “DOL”) on April 6, 2016 released the final version of its “investment advice” regulation and accompanying prohibited transaction exemptions, a highly-anticipated milestone that is the...more
5/27/2016
/ Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Best Interest Contract Exemptions ,
Brokers ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Final Rules ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
Investment Adviser ,
Retirement Plan
For the past several years, the U.S. Department of Labor (the “DOL”) has been in the process of revising the “investment advice” regulations that govern “fiduciary” status under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of...more
Earlier this week, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously decided the case of Tibble v. Edison International. In Tibble, the Court held that the statute of limitations under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974...more
The U.S. Department of Labor (the “DOL”) on April 14, 2015 issued the long-awaited re-proposal (the “2015 Proposed Regulations”) of the regulations defining “investment advice” in connection with the “fiduciary” rules under...more
The United States Department of Labor (the “DOL”) announced on March 18, 2015, a “direct” final rule (the “Final Rule”) extending the time in which annual disclosures must be provided by fiduciaries of participant-directed...more
A request for information ("RFI") by the U.S. Department of Labor ("DOL") was published on August 21, 2014 regarding the use of so-called "brokerage windows" under retirement plans, such as many Section 401(k) plans, that...more
Last week, in a complaint dated August 8, 2014, plaintiffs commenced a lawsuit in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas against Financial Engines, Inc. and Financial Engines Advisors L.L.C. asserting a...more
Section 408(b)(2) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 ("ERISA") provides an exemption from the “prohibited transaction” provisions of ERISA for certain compensation arrangements with employee benefit plans....more
The U.S. Department of Labor (the “Department”) on November 1, 2013 issued Advisory Opinion 2013-05A (the “Opinion”) concerning the application of certain anti-criminal provisions under the Employee Retirement Income Security...more
The U.S. Department of Labor (the “DOL”) recently issued Advisory Opinion 2013-03A (the “Opinion”), which addresses implications under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”) surrounding certain...more
Under the rules of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”), certain collective investment vehicles and other entities that, directly or indirectly, invest in “commodity interests” may be “commodity pools” whose...more
Much of the investment capital in the U.S. market is in retirement plans subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”). Over the years, an important element of a number of plans’ investment...more
The U.S. Department of Labor (the “DOL”) recently issued an information letter, dated November 9, 2012 (the “Information Letter”), in which it confirms that, for all purposes of determining what parties are “related” to a...more