401k "Kickback" Suit Against Fidelity Booted From Court
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Court and Legal 401k "Kickback" Suit Against Fidelity Booted From Court Fidelity Investments has won a legal challenge to its practice of collecting shelf-space payments from third-party mutual funds used in its retirement plan recordkeeping business. A federal judge found that Fidelity was not a fiduciary to the plans at the center of a class-action lawsuit. Source: Investmentnews.com (registration may be required) District Court Opines on Successor Fiduciary Liability A recent case highlights the importance of paying attention to successor fiduciary liability when taking on a benefits plan. This case provides important color to the ERISA provision that prevents plan fiduciaries from facing liability for breaches that occurred before and after their tenure as a fiduciary responsible for the benefit plan. Source: Hallbenefitslaw.com Accessing Participant Data - Another Lawsuit The question now facing plan sponsors, recordkeepers, asset managers, and advisers is who has ownership of the data besides the participants and beneficiaries. The plaintiff bar is pushing to see the boundaries or limits of data ownership, usage, and rights by plan sponsors and service providers. It is reasonable to expect an increasing number of complaints will be filed against plan sponsors and their service providers regarding data usage and privacy. Source: Experientialwealth.com »» Click here for more Court and Other Legal Issues Fiduciary and Plan Governance Building a Successful Investment Committee The standards plan fiduciaries are held to seem to be rising. A critical step in meeting your fiduciary responsibility is to start an investment committee or strengthen your current one. The high-level investment committee basics here break down what a successful committee looks like. Source: Conradsiegel.com ERISA Litigation Isn't Slowing Down - Tips to Help Plan Fiduciaries Keep Ahead of It The incidence of ERISA fiduciary breach lawsuits shows little sign of slowing down. They serve as a (fairly constant) reminder to plan fiduciaries of their ongoing responsibility for the selection and monitoring of plan service providers and investment options. And, although there's no perfect protection from the ever-present specter of litigation, there are actions plan fiduciaries can take to ensure their decisions won't lead to costly lawsuits. Source: Foley.com »» Click here for more Fiduciary and Plan Governance Material Insight: Studies, Research, and White Papers Achieving Retirement Equality for Women With the dawn of a new decade, this 52-page report looks at steps women can take to improve their retirement preparedness. The report also sets forward recommendations for employers and governments globally to take an active approach in reducing the retirement preparedness gender gap, paving the way to a more equal future retirement landscape. Source: Aegon.com Employers Build on Impact of Automatic Savings Features New research from the Plan Sponsor Council of America finds that more plans with automatic enrollment features are increasing the traditional defaults, helping lift savings to record levels. While the survey found that plans that have embraced this feature are building on its success in expanding participation to help workers save more for retirement. Specifically, while plans tended to set the default participant savings rate at 3 percent, the survey finds that is changing, in 2018, more than 60 percent of plans with automatic enrollment used a default deferral rate above 3 percent. Source: Psca.org Plan Design, Participant Behavior Help Fuel Record 401k Growth Plan design enhancements combined with positive savings behaviors and strong market conditions have helped push average 401k balances to record levels. Among the highlights in Fidelity Investments' fourth-quarter 2019 analysis of retirement savings trends is that the average 401k balance rose to $112,300, a new record high and a 7% increase from the previous quarter's balance of $105,200. Source: Napa-net.org »» Click here for More Studies, Research, and White Papers Items of Special Interest to Service Providers New SECURE Act Expands Retirement Savings Opportunities Tax practitioners can consider sharing this information with their clients and meeting with them to take advantage of the retirement planning opportunities, never a bad thing. Here is a summary of the higher-impact provisions of the SECURE Act. Source: Cpapracticeadvisor.com Cybersecurity Strategies for the Adviser Industry Retirement plan advisers not only have rigorous cybersecurity responsibilities of their own, but they also need to proactively help their plan sponsor clients establish airtight cybersecurity firewalls and procedures, industry experts say. Source: Planadviser.com 403b Plans 403b Plans and a Closer Look at Funds and Fees To help Business Officers better understand their school's situation and evaluate whether employees are getting good value for their fees, PlanPILOT shares the findings of research on trends in plan fee trends and investment line-up design. Using publicly available IRS Form 5500 information, PlanPILOT examined more than 750 plans, with NBOA schools comprising roughly 20% of plans. Source: Planpilot.com »» Click here for More 403b Material Legislative and Washington DC Bill Would Treat Child Care Expenses as Elective Deferrals Add childcare payments to the mix of items that policymakers are considering as a way to help individuals save for retirement in their DC plans. Introduced Feb. 10 by Reps. Ann Wagner and Hakeem Jeffries, the "Investing in Your Family's Future Act" (H.R. 5837) would amend the Internal Revenue Code to permit the treatment of childcare payments as elective deferrals for purposes of employer matching contributions for DC plans. Source: Napa-net.org »» Click here for more on Legislative and Washington Actions Multiple Employer Plans (MEP) Pete Swisher Explains Why Companies Don't Care About MEPs Business owners and executives don't care about MEPs or PEPs or 401k plans of any kind, not really. They care about what work they have to do, what responsibilities they have to accept, and how much they have to pay. They care about stuff that helps their people or their business, hopefully in that order. Source: Fiduciarynews.com »» Click here for more on Multiple Employer Plans Compliance and Regulatory 401k Plan Filing Requirements - What to File and When to File It If you are a fiduciary for your 401k Plan, keeping everything on track and meeting all of your duties regarding reporting and filing requirements can be quite daunting. The government requires returns and reports, and ERISA requires that participants be informed. This article provides a breakdown of what to file and when. Source: Lindquistcpa.com Retirement Plan Changes Could Make Sponsors Feel Less SECURE Retirement plan sponsors and their third-party administrator business partners need to understand the implications of two SECURE Act provisions involving complex changes to human resources administration systems and savings plan calculation engines. One is a mandatory change concerning long-time part-time employees who may qualify to participate in an employer's retirement plan if they meet the requisite hours worked for three consecutive years. The second is a voluntary change related to qualified birth or adoption distributions. This article explains some of the complexities resulting from these provisions and highlights actions plan sponsors can take to avoid being caught off guard. Source: Milliman.com What You Need to Know About the SECURE Act: Optional Provisions The SECURE Act contains a number of provisions that affect individuals as well as employers with respect to their retirement programs. Some of the provisions are required and some are optional. This article will address the potentially optional provisions of the SECURE Act affecting retirement plans and IRAs. Source: Mcdonaldhopkins.com »» Click here for more Compliance and Regulatory Material
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