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Fiduciary Duty Department of Labor (DOL) Financial Services Industry

Polsinelli

DOL Rescinds 2022 Guidance Concerning Cryptocurrency Investments in 401(k) Plans

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On May 28, 2025, the Department of Labor (DOL) rescinded its 2022 guidance that cautioned retirement plan fiduciaries to exercise “extreme care” in permitting cryptocurrency and other digital asset investments in retirement...more

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

Advisors aren’t sold on Bitcoin

On whether to recommend Bitcoin and other digital assets for clients, financial advisers are wary about their fiduciary duty to clients, according to a CoinShares survey....more

Jackson Lewis P.C.

Missing Participants – New State Unclaimed Property Fund Option for Small Balances

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On January 14, 2025, the DOL issued Field Assistance Bulletin (FAB) 2025-01, providing sponsors and administrators of ongoing defined contribution plans with a new option for missing participant balances of $1,000 or less:...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

The DOL May Not Actually Want to Hear From You: New Guidance Streamlining the Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on

The DOL updated its voluntary fiduciary correction program (“VFCP”) which was introduced over 20 years ago to allow plan sponsors to corrected enumerated fiduciary breaches. The amended VFCP now allows for self-correction of...more

K&L Gates LLP

QPAM Amendments Impact on CITs: What Banks and Their Advisers Need to Know

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Effective 17 June 2024, the US Department of Labor (DOL) adopted comprehensive amendments to Prohibited Transaction Exemption (PTE) 84-14, also known as the “QPAM exemption” (Exemption)....more

Carlton Fields

DOL Fiduciary Rule Saga Continues: 2024 Fiduciary Rule Halted by Texas District Courts

Carlton Fields on

The Federation of Americans for Consumer Choice v. Department of Labor case was the first case challenging the Department of Labor’s 2024 retirement security rule defining who is an investment advice fiduciary. It was...more

Hall Benefits Law

Major Differences Between DOL’s Proposed and Final ERISA Investment Advice Regulations

Hall Benefits Law on

The U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) final regulations broaden the definition of fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) to include more investment advisors. However, the eight hundred pages of...more

Carlton Fields

The DOL Fiduciary Rule Is Here – Are You an Investment Advice Fiduciary?

Carlton Fields on

The Department of Labor’s final definition of “investment advice” fiduciary regulation makes many more individuals fiduciaries under both the Employee Retirement Income Security Act and the Internal Revenue Code. Where for...more

Polsinelli

New Final Department of Labor Rules on Investment Advice are Immediately Challenged in Court

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The U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) recently issued final, new regulations (the “rules”) regarding who is considered an investment advice fiduciary that are slated to become generally effective on September 23, 2024, as well...more

Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck

Fiduciary Rule 4.0 Released

On April 23, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) published the “Retirement Security Rule: Definition of an Investment Advice Fiduciary,” which makes changes to the definition of “ fiduciary” for purposes of the Employee...more

A&O Shearman

DOL Issues Final Rule Amending QPAM Exemption

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On April 3, 2024, the Department of Labor (DOL) released its final rule amending Prohibited Transaction Exemption 84-14 (PTE 84-14). PTE 84-14 exempts from ERISA’s prohibited transaction rules certain transactions between...more

Carlton Fields

New DOL Fiduciary Rule Proposal: Still the Same Old Act…

Carlton Fields on

On November 3, 2023, the Department of Labor proposed yet another fiduciary rule, the latest in more than a decade of DOL efforts to ensure that every financial professional who sells an investment product to a retirement...more

Williams Mullen

PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - New Federal Rule Aims to Hold Investment Advisors to a Higher Standard

Williams Mullen on

On this episode of Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion, host Brydon DeWitt is joined by Ali Pino, a principal and retirement plan consultant with Spherient Advisors, who discusses the proposed Department of Labor rule...more

Troutman Pepper Locke

DOL Proposed Rule: New Definition of "Investment Advice Fiduciary"

Troutman Pepper Locke on

On October 31, the Department of Labor (DOL) released a proposed rule (the Proposed Rule) aiming to redefine and expand who qualifies as an “investment advice fiduciary” under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of...more

A&O Shearman

DOL Proposes New Fiduciary Rule Aimed at Investment Advice to Individual Retirement Investors

A&O Shearman on

More than five years after the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals decision to vacate the Department of Labor’s (DOL) 2016 fiduciary rule, the DOL has proposed a new rule that, once again, attempts to re-define when financial...more

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP

Texas Federal Judge: DOL ESG Investing Rule Does Not Violate ERISA

On September 21, 2023, a Texas federal court dismissed an action commenced by more than two dozen Republican state attorneys general challenging a 2022 Department of Labor (DOL) Rule that addressed consideration of ESG...more

Nossaman LLP

Federal Court Rejects States’ Challenge to DOL’s ESG Investing Rule

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On September 21, 2023, a federal judge in Texas granted summary judgment in, and thus dismissed, a lawsuit filed by the Attorneys General of 25 states and other interested parties challenging a final rule issued by the U.S....more

Groom Law Group, Chartered

District Court Vacates DOL Interpretation of Investment Advice

Does combining a recommendation to take a rollover from a retirement plan with post-rollover advice mean that advice is being provided on a “regular basis” under the Department of Labor’s (“DOL”) five-part test for fiduciary...more

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

The thing about ESG

While the Biden administration’s Department of Labor (DOL) final environmental, social, and governance (ESG) rule went into effect, I think it’s much to do about nothing....more

Groom Law Group, Chartered

DOL Reopens Comment Period for Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program Changes

The Department of Labor (“DOL”) recently announced (88 Fed. Reg. 9408, Feb. 14, 2023) that it will reopen the public comment period on proposed amendments to DOL’s Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program (“VFCP”) and its...more

A&O Shearman

DOL Finalizes ESG Rule for ERISA Plan Fiduciaries

A&O Shearman on

The Department of Labor (the DOL) has released its final rule clarifying how and when ERISA fiduciaries may consider ESG factors in making investment decisions for a plan. The rule also offers substantial guidance on the...more

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

DOL releases final ESG Rule

On November 22, the Department of Labor (DOL) released its final rule for retirement plan fiduciaries wishing to incorporate environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors into their investment selection and monitoring...more

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

DOL proposes VFCP self-correction

The Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) proposed updates to their Voluntary Fiduciary Compliance Program (VFCP), which would allow a self-correction component. The EBSA proposal includes a...more

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP

DOL Issues Final Rule Amending Investment Duties Regulation – Provides New Guidance on Consideration of ESG Factors in Plan...

On November 22, the United States Department of Labor (“DOL”) released its final rule (the “Final Rule”) adopting certain revisions to its investment duties regulation under ERISA at 29 CFR Section 2550.404a-1 (the “Section...more

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP

DOL Warns Sponsors against Permitting Cryptocurrency-Related Investments on 401(k) Plan Investment Menus

The U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) last month issued Compliance Assistance Release No. 2022-1 - 401(k) Plan Investments in “Cryptocurrencies” (the “Release”) in which it strongly cautions ERISA plan fiduciaries to use...more

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