DOL Fiduciary News: October 26, 2017
Please Note:
These links will take you directly to the homepage of the website that features the article.
To reach the article directly, copy and paste the article title into the search feature on the homepage of the publication website.
Republican Questions Constitutionality of Insurance Regulatory System
ThinkAdvisor; October 25, 2017
If supporters of the state-based insurance regulatory keep going after the Federal Insurance Office, critics of that system that could go after the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC).
Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif., a longtime critic of the NAIC, raised the possibility of an attack on the NAIC's efforts to coordinate state insurance regulation Tuesday, during a hearing in Washington organized by the House Financial Services Committee's housing and insurance subcommittee.
"States cannot uniformly act when there's a crisis," Royce said. "That's just a practical reality here."
(http://www.thinkadvisor.com)
Watchdog Group Sues DOL over Fiduciary Rule Documents
ThinkAdvisor; October 25, 2017
American Oversight, a watchdog group, is suing the Labor Department for not responding to its Freedom of Information Act request to release “relevant documents” about Labor’s fiduciary rule.
The complaint, filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, seeks to force Labor to release records related to the department’s ongoing efforts to “undo” the fiduciary rule as well as the overtime pay rule.
These two Obama-era regulations were put in place “to expand the number of workers eligible for overtime pay, and protect investors, respectively,” according to the group, which says its mission is to expose unethical conduct in the Trump administration.
Labor’s “attempts to roll back the overtime and fiduciary rules are yet additional examples of how the Trump administration has sided with well-connected businesses over the working Americans whose interests the president claims to represent,” said American Oversight Executive Director Austin Evers, in a statement. “The public has a right to know why the Trump administration believes 4 million Americans should work for free, and why it’s OK for investment professionals to act in their own financial interests instead of their clients’.”
(http://www.thinkadvisor.com)
Retirement plan sponsors adapt to the new fiduciary rule
Employee Benefit Adviser; October 24 2017, 8:06pm EDT
Retirement plan sponsors have risen to the challenge this year when it comes to embracing their fiduciary duty.
“There’s been quite a bit of focus on retirement readiness, communications and getting plan participants to save more for retirement,” says Stacy Sandler, principal for Deloitte Consulting.
Deloitte Consulting’s latest Defined Contribution Benchmarking Survey “shows an overwhelming push to overcome obstacles, tap new methods, and simplify approaches in an effort to help participants tackle their future retirement income needs,” she says.
New technologies, analytics and enhanced communications are helping plan sponsors do a better job of reaching participants to overcome various savings hurdles.
(https://www.benefitnews.com)