Six Things Employers Need to Know Before Offering Cryptocurrency in 401ks
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In This Issue
Fiduciary and Plan Governance Six Things Employers Need to Know Before Offering Cryptocurrency in 401ks Cryptocurrencies are currently one of the hottest topics in the world and for good reason. Bitcoin's fluctuations over the past year have some employees and retirees asking to include cryptocurrencies in their employer-sponsored 401k retirement plans. The potential for negative valuation swings, on the other hand, has others saying they might be too risky for retirement savings. This Insight will provide six key considerations for Plan sponsors before considering including a cryptocurrency option in your retirement plans. Source: Fisherphillips.com ERISA and the Challenges of Using ESG in Retirement Plan Investing It can be helpful for employers and retirement plan fiduciaries to understand the ERISA issues created by using ESG criteria in selecting and managing retirement plan investments, including why this remains an area of changing legal standards, especially in the last few years. This 2-page piece looks at the issues. Source: Morganlewis.com Video: 20 Questions to Benchmark Your Retirement Plan When was the last time you reviewed your retirement plan: 5 years ago, 3 years ago? If it has been over a year, it may be time to benchmark your retirement plan, but it doesn't have to be a chore this time around. This video clip outlines five main areas of your retirement plan and the questions you should be asking. Source: Alliant401k.com »» Click here for more Fiduciary and Plan Governance Material Items of Special Interest to Service Providers Vanguard Group Becomes the Second Domino to Fall in 401k Recordkeeper Detente on Plan Portability Vanguard Group is introducing an oxymoron -- the portable 401k account -- with help from a firm that openly hopes to leverage Vanguard's deal to convince Fidelity Investments to open its 401k trillions to what MBAs call 'coopetition.' The $8-trillion Malvern, Pa., mega-manager announced Tuesday that it hired Retirement Clearinghouse to make it radically easier for a 40k plan participant to pack up their pension assets with their lunchbox and pocket calculator in a job switch. Source: Riabiz.com More Companies Planning PEPs, With Potential in Auto-IRA States States such as California, Oregon, and Illinois are requiring small businesses to either provide a 401k or sign up for the state program, and that is a massive opportunity for startup plans. Source: Investmentnews.com (registration may be required) Court and Legal Most Claims Move Forward in Suit Over Aon CITs in 401k Plan A federal judge has denied motions to dismiss a lawsuit alleging fiduciaries of the Centerra Group 401k plan violated ERISA by selecting poorly performing collective investment trusts for the plan and allowing for excessive recordkeeping fees. Source: Planadviser.com Courts Giving DOL More Time to Claim ERISA Violations The Department of Labor is relying on a recent Supreme Court decision to effectively extend the amount of time the agency has to bring fiduciary breach claims. DOL investigations often last years, so it is common for DOL to run up against the statute of limitations under ERISA. Source: Groom.com District Court Dismisses Investment and Recordkeeping Claims Against 401k Plan Fiduciaries A Kentucky federal district court ruled that a participant in CommonSpirit Health's 401k plan failed to state plausible claims for breach of fiduciary duty related to the fees and performance of actively managed target-date funds and recordkeeping fee. The court first rejected the plaintiff's claim that the plan fiduciaries should have offered a passively managed target-date suite instead of a more expensive and underperforming actively managed target-date suite because "actively managed funds and passively managed funds are not ideal comparators." Source: Erisapracticecenter.com Insurance Agents Charged With Duping California Educators in 403b Plans The owner of a 403b plan administration firm and another insurance agent allegedly convinced educators to roll retirement plan money into an IRA to invest in the owner's companies, which were in poor financial shape. Source: Plansponsor.com »» Click here for more Court and Other Legal Issues Legislative and Washington DC New Bill Aims to Solve for the Retirement Plan Coverage Gap The Portable Retirement and Investment Account Act of 2021 would create accounts for people soon after they are assigned a Social Security number that they could contribute to whenever they don't have access to an employer-sponsored plan. Source: Planadviser.com Treasury Pulling Back From Student Loan Retirement Plan Rules The Biden administration has pulled back from working on new rules that would allow employers' retirement plans to make contributions to retirement savings plans based on their workers' student loan payments. Source: Bloomberglaw.com »» Click here for more on Legislative and Washington Actions Cyber and Plan Security Cybersecurity and DOL Document Requests The DOL's "Cybersecurity Document Requests" reveal the DOL has been asking for quite an extensive list of documentation. Moreover, the DOL has noted that plan administrators should be aware that they may need to consult not only with the sponsor of the plan, but with the service providers of the plan to obtain all the documents requested, and if they are unable to produce the requested documents the plan administrator must specify the reasons why the documents are unavailable. Source: Retirementlc.com »» Click here for more on Cybersecurity Issues Compliance and Regulatory Agencies Propose Extensive Form 5500 Amendments The DOL, Department of the Treasury, and Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation recently released a notice of proposed revisions to the Form 5500 Annual Return/Report of Employee Benefit Plan filed for employee pension and welfare benefit plans under ERISA and the Internal Revenue Code. The package issued by the Agencies contains both a notice of proposed revisions to the Forms themselves as well as a notice of proposed regulatory changes to the applicable Form 5500 regulations. Source: Groom.com How Important Are Beneficiary Forms? When hiring a new employee, one of the initial tasks given to that employee is completing various beneficiary forms for the company's benefit plans. Most people will fill it out and not think about that initial election ever again. Some employees may not fill one out at all. So why is it a big deal? Source: Asppa.org Plan Sponsors Now Have a Deadline for Providing Lifetime Income Illustrations Employers who sponsor 401k plans and other DC plans in which participants may direct the investments of their accounts now have a deadline to provide lifetime income illustrations in those plans' benefit statements. The DOL recently published guidance addressing these requirements. While helpful, the guidance is still subject to change in a potential final regulation. As such, employers should work closely with their plan administrators and legal counsel to navigate the contours of the evolving lifetime income rules. Source: Employeebenefitslawreport.com IRS Extends Interim Amendment Deadline for Preapproved 401k Plans For adopters of preapproved plans, a sponsoring employer's tax-filing deadline is no longer relevant in determining the date by which an interim amendment must be adopted. Instead, the key date is the end of the second calendar year following the calendar year in which the new law change became effective for the preapproved plan. Source: Compliancedashboard.net »» Click here for more Compliance and Regulatory Material Marketplace News OneDigital Unveils Small Business Retirement Solution Vanguard and Retirement Clearinghouse to Offer Auto Portability Service to 401k Participants
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