News & Analysis as of

Investment Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) Department of Labor (DOL)

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Executive Order Opens the Door to Alternative Assets in 401(k) Plans

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Shortly following our Legal Update regarding considerations for institutional investors investing in funds alongside retail investors, on August 7, 2025, President Trump issued an Executive Order (Order) entitled...more

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP

Labor Dept. permits fiduciaries to consider alternative investments for 401(k)s

On August 12, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration rescinded guidance from December 2021 that discouraged fiduciaries from considering alternative assets in the list of investment options...more

Troutman Pepper Locke

Retirement Revolution: Expanding Access to Private Credit in 401(k)s

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On August 7, President Donald Trump issued an executive order directing federal agencies, particularly the Department of Labor, to work on expanding access to alternative investments for participants in 401(k) and other...more

Ballard Spahr LLP

Executive Order Seeks to Expand Access to Crypto and Private Investments in Defined-Contribution Plans

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On August 7, 2025, President Trump issued an executive order (the Order) instructing federal agencies to expand access to alternative asset investments for participants in defined-contribution retirement plans such as 401(k)...more

Jones Day

White House Opens Door to Broader Inclusion of Alternative Assets in Defined Contribution Retirement Plans

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A hotly anticipated August 7, 2025, executive order, "Democratizing Access to Alternative Assets for 401(k) Investors" ("EO"), aims to reduce regulatory barriers and significantly expand access to "alternative...more

Eversheds Sutherland (US) LLP

White House issues executive order: “Democratizing Access for Alternative Assets for 401(k) Investors”

On August 7, 2025, the White House issued an executive order called “Democratizing Access to Alternative Assets for 401(k) Investors” (Order). The Order focuses on 401(k) plans and other participant-directed defined...more

Carlton Fields

Plan Sponsor and Asset Manager Considerations Under 401(k) Alternatives Executive Order

Carlton Fields on

On August 7, 2025, President Trump signed an executive order titled “Democratizing Access to Alternative Assets for 401(k) Investors,” designed to open the use of alternative investments, including private equity and actively...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

So, How Can Participants Invest Their Retirement Money?

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Under the current administration, the Department of Labor has once again changed course on its view of permissible investing strategies for retirement plans, warming to crypto and private equity, and confirming their distrust...more

Holland & Hart - The Benefits Dial

How Do You Like Me Now… Plan Fiduciary Considerations Following New DOL Crypto Guidance

The Department of Labor recently issued Compliance Assistance Release No. 2025-01 rescinding Compliance Assistance Release No. 2022-01 that directed 401(k) plan fiduciaries to exercise “extreme care” before adding...more

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP

U.S. Department of Labor Withdraws 2022 Crypto Guidance—What It Means for 401(k) Plan Fiduciaries

Crypto may be back on the table for 401(k) plans, but fiduciary duties remain as demanding as ever. On May 28, 2025, the U.S. Department of Labor Employee Benefits Security Administration (DOL) issued Compliance Assistance...more

Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP

New DOL Guidance for Retirement Plans on Cryptocurrency and ESG Investments

The new administration has recently taken steps to revise guidance with respect to two retirement plan investment options: cryptocurrency, and funds focusing on environmental, social, and governance (“ESG”) factors. These two...more

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,...

DOL Plans to Replace ESG Rule for Retirement Plan Fiduciaries

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) indicated in court documents that it intends to begin new rulemaking to replace a previous rule that permitted 401(k) plan fiduciaries to consider environmental, social, and governance (ESG)...more

Seward & Kissel LLP

401(k) Plan Investments in Digital Assets

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The Department of Labor (“DOL”) recently issued Compliance Assistance Release No. 2025-01 (the “Release”), reversing previous guidance that cautioned plan fiduciaries offering investments in digital assets in...more

Ropes & Gray LLP

Trump DOL Withdraws Biden-Era ESG Rule and Crypto Guidance for ERISA Plans

Ropes & Gray LLP on

On May 28, 2025, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) began to articulate the Trump administration’s retirement policy priorities with its decisions to (i) end its defense of the Biden-era ESG rule in a long-running lawsuit...more

A&O Shearman

Texas court upholds Biden administration’s rule on ESG Investing for ERISA fiduciaries

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In a recent decision by the U.S. District Court Northern District of Texas, Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk ruled that the U.S. Department of Labor’s 2022 Rule (the 2022 Rule) on environmental, social, and governance (ESG)...more

Mintz

Biden Administration's DOL Rule Permitting ESG Investments Survives Legal Challenge

Mintz on

4 Last week, a federal district judge in the Northern District of Texas upheld a rule promulgated by the Biden Administration's Department of Labor enabling ESG-focused investing. Specifically, the court determined that the...more

Keating Muething & Klekamp PLL

Benefits Monthly Minute - January 2025

The January Monthly Minute highlights a recent Texas court decision holding ESG investing violated ERISA and a new development in the J&J prescription drug case that found plaintiff lacked standing to sue, and also digs into...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

Hall Benefits Law

Fifth Circuit Appears Skeptical of Invalidating ESG Rule Despite the Fall of Chevron

Hall Benefits Law on

A U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit panel appeared skeptical during oral arguments in which conservative states and Texas-based energy interests sought to reverse a district judge’s order upholding an environmental,...more

Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

The New Fiduciary Rule (45): The Regulation and Exemptions are Stayed (5)—What Remains?

The stay of the effective dates of the amended fiduciary regulation and amended exemptions means that the “old” fiduciary regulation (the 5-part test) and the amended exemptions continue in effect indefinitely. As a result,...more

Proskauer - Employee Benefits & Executive...

The Never-Ending Fiduciary Rule Story Continues: Effective Date of DOL’s Newest Fiduciary Investment Advice Rule Delayed by...

The Department of Labor (“DOL”) recently issued final rules (the “Final Rules”) which expanded what it means to provide fiduciary “investment advice” under ERISA and Section 4975 of the Code (discussed here). The Final Rules...more

Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

The New Fiduciary Rule (40): Rollovers and the Insurance License Issue

The Department of Labor’s final regulation defining fiduciary status for investment advice to retirement investors will be effective this September 23. Where a fiduciary recommendation results in additional compensation for...more

SEC Compliance Consultants, Inc. (SEC³)

What Advisers Need to Know Now About Giving Rollover Advice after September 23, 2024

This article was originally published on Kitces.com, on May 15, 2024, and is available at at DoL’s Retirement Security Rule & PTE 2020-02 Amendment: What Advisers Need to Know Now about Giving Rollover Advice After September...more

ArentFox Schiff

Biden Administration Issues Final Rule Expanding ERISA Fiduciary Definition, Enhancing Protections for Pension Plan Participants

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On April 23, the US Department of Labor (DOL) released a final rule significantly expanding the definition of who qualifies as a fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) (the Retirement Security...more

Eversheds Sutherland (US) LLP

Department of Labor’s final Fiduciary Rule 4.0

On April 23, 2024, the US Department of Labor (DOL) released its Final Rule 4.0 regarding ERISA fiduciary investment advice, including amended exemptions for conflicted investment advice. Our initial analysis of the Final...more

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