Nevin Adams
By Nevin Adams 7/12/2016
The Department of Labor (DOL) wants the information form that private-sector employee benefit plans file each year to have more information — and to be more “mineable.”The DOL’s Employee Benefits Security Administration, the IRS and the PBGC are seeking public comments on proposed revisions that...
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By Nevin Adams 7/11/2016
The Department of Labor (DOL) has made some “technical corrections” to the Best Interest Contract (BIC) Exemption of the fiduciary regulation. The DOL issued the corrections on July 7; it had published the BIC Exemption in the April 8, 2016 Federal Register.The DOL notes that all of the corrections...
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By Nevin Adams 7/8/2016
A House appropriations bill takes another shot at the Department of Labor’s (DOL) fiduciary rule, while a litigant’s suit has now jumped to the front of the hearing queue.Under the heading of “Reducing Harmful Red Tape,” the House Committee on Appropriations said, “the legislation includes several...
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By Nevin Adams 6/21/2016
The three lawsuits filed against the Department of Labor’s (DOL) fiduciary regulation in the Northern District of Texas could be coming together. The DOL has filed an “unopposed motion to consolidate cases” with the court, arguing that: all three actions challenge the same agency rulemaking...
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By Nevin Adams 6/10/2016
Two more lawsuits have been filed charging the Department of Labor’s (DOL) fiduciary regulation with a host of “sins” and shortcomings. One was filed by the Indexed Annuity Leadership Council (IALC), an association of insurance companies that offer fixed indexed annuities, along with several...
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By Nevin Adams 6/3/2016
Less than 24 hours after the filing of litigation challenging the Department of Labor’s (DOL) fiduciary regulation, a second lawsuit was filed June 2.This one, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by the National Association for Fixed Annuities, seeks to “challenge and...
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By Nevin Adams 6/2/2016
As anticipated, a number of retirement industry trade groups and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have taken their case against the Department of Labor’s (DOL) fiduciary regulation to the courts. Filed on June 1 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, the 74-page suit claims...
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By Nevin Adams 4/21/2016
Sure you do — and we’ve developed a way for you to ask the Labor Department.On April 17, American Retirement Association CEO Brian Graff unveiled a new resource that we are making available to help gather and organize the myriad questions that you’re dealing with today — or that may emerge in the...
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By Nevin Adams 4/7/2016
A provision in the Department of Labor’s (DOL) 2015 proposed fiduciary rule that would have had a significant impact on participant education has been modified in the final rule issued April 6. The revised provision aligns with recommendations made by the American Retirement Association. In the...
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By Nevin Adams 4/6/2016
After a five-month comment period, four days of public hearings, more than 3,000 comment letters, some 300,000 petitions, and more than 100 meetings with stakeholders, nearly a year to the day that the Department of Labor (DOL) unveiled its “Conflicts of Interest” proposal, we have a final...
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By Nevin Adams 4/1/2016
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is turning up the heat on financial services firms that have opposed the Department of Labor’s (DOL) pending fiduciary regulation.Having expressed concerns a few weeks ago to Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez and Office of Management and Budget Director Shaun Donovan (...
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By Nevin Adams 1/29/2016
Neither rain, nor snow, nor dark of night — could keep the Department of Labor (DOL) from getting the updated conflict-of-interest/fiduciary regulation to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review. That’s right, despite the massive snowstorm that hit the Washington, D.C. area last week...
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By Nevin Adams 1/26/2016
Harkening back to a brief reference to benefit portability in the State of the Union address, the Obama Administration has announced its desire to extend Multiple Employer Plan (MEP) access to the private sector.These so-called “open” MEPs are single retirement plans involving two or more unrelated...
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By Nevin Adams 12/7/2015
The team of Portman and Cardin have put their heads, and pens, together in a letter to Labor Secretary Tom Perez about the Department of Labor’s (DOL’s) fiduciary proposal.Of course, then-Representatives Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Ben Cardin (D-Md.) led the charge in the House for the Economic Growth...
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By Nevin Adams 12/3/2015
A congressional subcommittee hearing Dec. 2 gave voice to the conflicting perspectives on the Department of Labor’s (DOL) fiduciary proposal, though it seems unlikely that anyone’s perspective was changed.The hearing, “Principles for Ensuring Retirement Advice Serves the Best Interests of Working...
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By Nevin Adams 11/16/2015
The Department of Labor (DOL) on Nov. 16 unveiled a proposed rule to clarify ERISA's application to state-run IRA programs, creating an unfair advantage for those programs over those offered by the private sector. The proposal includes a rule modifying the payroll deduction safe harbor to allow...
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By Nevin Adams 9/3/2015
The Department of Labor (DOL) is moving ahead with its effort to make it easier for states to offer retirement initiatives without running afoul of federal law, sending a proposed rule to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review Sept. 1.The action, noted in an OMB website posting, could...
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By Nevin Adams 8/13/2015
The public comment period may have closed, but a group of U.S. Senators has weighed in on the proposed fiduciary regs — and lent their support to a recommendation of the American Retirement Association.The letter, signed by Senate Finance Committee ranking member Ron Wyden (Ore.), as well as fellow...
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By Nevin Adams 7/28/2015
Among the more than 800 comment letters filed on the Labor Department’s fiduciary proposal is one from a fellow federal agency that claims the proposal fails to adequately estimate its cost or the number of firms affected by it.The filing by the Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy...
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By Nevin Adams 7/14/2015
Diamonds may be forever, but apparently fiduciary liability for choosing annuities in a DC plan is not.That’s likely the most significant takeaway for advisors and plan sponsors from Field Assistance Bulletin (FAB) 2015-02. In that document, acknowledging that “confusion or lack of clarity” about...
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