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The SECURE Act: Significant Changes for Retirement Plans and IRAs
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The SECURE Act: How This Brand New Law Affects Your Retirement Accounts
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Key Takeaways - FINRA’s 2025 Annual Regulatory Oversight Report 2025-annual-regulatory-oversight-report.pdf included a focus on issues related to retirees and senior investors. - The Report provides guidance to...more
SEC Loses in ALJ Case, DOL’s Latest Fiduciary Rule Put on Hold, and SEC Reconsiders AI and Custody Rule Proposals - Welcome to our July Regulatory Roundup, where we provide a quick look at the latest regulatory developments....more
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
On April 23, 2024, the Department of Labor published its long-awaited final retirement security rule broadening the definition of who is an “investment advice fiduciary” under section 3(21) of the Employee Retirement Income...more
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
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
Effective February 1, 2022, the Department of Labor (DOL) began enforcement of portions of the Prohibited Transaction Exemption 2020-02 (PTE 2020-02 or the Exemption). ...more
On December 18, 2020, the United States Department of Labor (the DOL) adopted Prohibited Transaction Exemption 2020-02, Improving Investment Advice for Workers & Retirees (PTE 2020-02 or the Exemption), a new prohibited...more
This series focuses on the DOL’s new fiduciary “rule”, which was effective on February 16. This, and the next several, articles look at the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) issued by the DOL to explain the fiduciary...more
The DOL “Fiduciary Rule,” FAQ 15: Factors to Evaluate for a Rollover Recommendation (Part 2) - This series focuses on the DOL’s new fiduciary “rule”, which was effective on February 16. This, and the next several, articles...more
On June 29, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor (the Department) formally reinstated its “five-part test” for determining what constitutes “investment advice” under ERISA and Section 4975 of the Internal Revenue Code (the...more
On June 5, 2019, the SEC adopted a package of rules and interpretations (the Adopted Rules) to clarify and further articulate the relationship between retail investors and their broker-dealers or investment advisers....more
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals’ rejection of the DOL’s Fiduciary rule reintroduces the 1975 five-factor fiduciary test and creates uncertainty for plan sponsors, plan fiduciaries and investment advisors. After years of...more
On June 21, 2018, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a mandate vacating the controversial fiduciary rule issued by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) in 2016. The mandate follows the court’s opinion issued on March 15,...more
Just as we are tuning in for March Madness, it seems that the Department of Labor (Department) has been dealt the latest upset in the fight to implement its final rule, which regulates certain activities of financial service...more
It was the Ides of March for the Obama Administration’s “fiduciary duty rule” that sought to remake much of nation’s financial markets by back-door regulation of anyone dealing with IRA investors. The US Fifth Circuit...more
In a 2-1 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit vacated the Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule, including the expanded definition of “investment advice fiduciary” and the associated exemptions. The...more
As reported in our November 28 client alert, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ (NAIC) Annuity Suitability Working Group (Suitability WG) circulated the proposed Suitability and Best Interest Standard of...more
For the past several months, we have written about potential litigation issues under the “revised temporary” DOL Rule involving the offer and sale of annuities in the IRA market. This article continues that discussion. ...more
Since its original release as a proposed rule in April 2015 and as a final rule a year later, the Department of Labor’s (DOL's) so-called fiduciary rule — which expands the “investment advice fiduciary” definition under the...more
For the past several months, we have written about potential litigation issues under the “revised temporary” DOL Rule involving the offer and sale of annuities in the IRA market. This article continues that discussion. Recall...more
As required by President Trump’s Executive Order 13772, the U.S. Department of the Treasury issued a report, “A Financial System That Creates Economic Opportunities, Asset Management and Insurance,” addressing the regulatory...more
Last month, we wrote about potential litigation issues under the “revised temporary” DOL Rule involving the offer and sale of annuities in the IRA market. This paper continues that discussion. I emphasize to the reader that...more
Previously, I wrote about potential litigation under the Department of Labor’s then proposed fiduciary rule (see Expect Focus, Vol. II, 2015). I predicted the following as to sales of index annuities to IRAs if the rule was...more
Employers and their financial advisors should consider enacting a multi-step plan amid anticipation that the proposed ERISA Fiduciary Rules turn effective. Last month, several business groups filed a complaint in the...more