Conferences & Programs: Task Force Pensions
Goal of the Task Force: The Investment Fiduciary Leadership Council ("IFLC") has commissioned a task force in response to the U.S. Department of Labor's announcement of its new fee disclosure rule, Regulation 408(b)2).
The Task Force on ERISA Fee Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest will evaluate the changes plan sponsors need to make in their procedures in order to comply with the Regulation. The main requirement of the Regulation is that they determine the reasonableness of the fees their plans pay to their vendors. Many experts believe the new Regulation will affect greatly the way plan sponsors select and monitor their service providers.
For the Task Force, IFLC has assembled a diverse group of retirement plan sponsors. The Task Force has begun an historic, collaborative effort. Its mission is twofold. The first is to develop a comprehensive process for ensuring the reasonableness of fees charged by service providers. The second part of its mission is to identify if, and where, conflicts of interest in service providers' offerings exist and how to reduce or eliminate them.
Ronald E. Hagan, Chairman of IFLC made the following statement: "The Employee Retirement Income Security Act ("ERISA") requires that retirement plan officials ("fiduciaries") conduct themselves according to a prudent process. Steps should exist within such a process that help plan officials prove that the services they acquire on behalf of their ERISA plans' participants are reasonably priced and have acceptable conflicts of interest. Yet, no standard procedure exists for fiduciaries to follow that attests to their prudence and gives safety to their decisions."
A spokesperson for IFLC said, "The goal of the Task Force is to establish fee testing practices that eliminate the ambiguity in fiduciary conduct that afflicts tens of thousands of retirement plan sponsors. Action needs to be taken now to prepare plan sponsors for the mountain of new fee and conflict of interest disclosures from service providers that the Regulatino will generate. The hazardous potential from doing nothing could swamp fiduciaries. The result could deny any hope of realizing the benefits of the long overdue retooling of the ERISA market that is needed. The Task Force on ERISA Fees Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest is led by a talented group of charter members who are committed to completing its important work."
Headquartered in Washington, D.C, IFLC is a membership association of fiduciary organizations. It is a leading advocate of fiduciary standards for the U.S. retirement plan industry..
MORE ABOUT THE TASK FORCE
An executive summary that describes more about the Task Force is available here.
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