| 2015 Plan Sponsor of the Year Finalists | ‘Meet’ Our 2015 Plan Sponsor of the Year Finalists | Read the profiles of our 2015 Plan Sponsor of
the Year finalists in the following categories: Corporate 401(k) less than
$50mm; Corporate 401(k) $50mm to $250mm; Corporate 401(k) $250mm to $1b;
Corporate 401(k) more than $1b; 403(b); Public DC; Public DB; and Multiple
Plans. Each profile contains a story of success—and yet, many of these sponsors
still consider their plan to be a work in progress.Read more > | | Products, Deals & People | DWC ERISA Consultants, LLC (DWC) announced that,
effective March 4, Destel-Bergen Corporation is merging its retirement plan
administrative services practice into DWC. Destel-Bergen Corporation is a
third-party administrator based in Petaluma, California, providing a variety of
administrative and consulting services for 401(k) and other tax qualified
retirement plans.Read more > | Platform Integrates Benefits for Self-Insured Plan Sponsors | Keas, which provides health benefits management,
created Health Hub to help benefit plan sponsors unify their benefit
offerings—including health assessments, incentive management, wearable devices,
tobacco cessation programs and cancer screenings, among others—to streamline
employer’s management and to fully engage employees. The platform eliminates
administrative overhead for HR and benefits departments, and drives utilization
of existing health benefits that might be going unused. “The irony of reducing
waste and improving the health of the employer-sponsored population for over
100 million Americans is that it’s not a health problem, but rather a marketing
and IT problem,” says Josh Stevens, chief executive of Keas. “The techniques
used to solve the health care engagement dilemma must come from consumer
marketing and IT professionals who can simplify and streamline the
employer-sponsored health experience.”Read more > | Six relationship managers have been added to
MassMutual’s network in New England, New York, the West, Southwest and
mid-Atlantic region, boosting the number to 103. The six will support
retirement plan sponsors, advisers and third-party administrators (TPAs). The
additions are needed to support record sales, according to Una Morabito, senior
vice president, relationship management for MassMutual Retirement Services.Read more > |
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| Market Mirror | Yesterday,
the Dow gained 228.11 points (1.29%) to finish at 17,977.42, the NASDAQ
increased 57.75 points (1.19%) to 4,929.51, and the S&P 500 climbed 27.77
points (1.35%) to 2,081.17. The Russell 2000 was up 7.63 points (0.62%) at
1,239.77, and the Wilshire 5000 closed 259.80 points (1.19%) higher at
22,008.56.
On the NYSE,
3.2 billion shares traded, with a near 2 to 1 lead for advancers. On the
NASDAQ, 2.8 billion shares changed hands, with 1.3 advancing issues for every declining
issue.
The price of the 10-year Treasury note was up 11/32,
decreasing its yield to 2.076%. The price of the 30-year Treasury bond increased
32/32, bringing its yield down to 2.651%.
| | Compliance | County Says Consultant Responsible for Retirement Plan Bias | In a recently filed lawsuit, Baltimore County,
Maryland, says Buck Consultants, LLC has a contractual duty to defend,
indemnify and hold harmless the county in connection with a lawsuit filed by
the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The civil action EEOC v. Baltimore County, et. al. was
brought in 2007 under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) and
alleged unlawful employment practices on the basis of age because older
employees were required to pay higher contributions than those paid by younger
employees to receive the same benefits from Baltimore County Employees’
Retirement System (ERS).Read more > | Regulators Issue Final Rules for Wraparound Health Coverage | The U.S. Departments of Labor, Health and Human
Services, and Treasury have published final rules to amend the definition of
excepted benefits to include certain limited coverage that wraps around
individual health insurance. Such coverage would have to be specifically designed
to provide meaningful benefits such as coverage for expanded in-network medical
clinics or providers, reimbursement for the full cost of primary care, or
coverage of the cost of prescription drugs not on the formulary of the primary
plan. The final rules permit group health plan sponsors, in limited
circumstances, to offer wraparound coverage to employees who are purchasing
individual health insurance in the private market, including in the Health
Insurance Marketplace. The
rule sets forth two pilot programs for limited wraparound coverage.Read more > | | Investing | Managed Accounts Show Little Fee Compression | Financial research and analytics firm Cerulli
Associates finds managed account programs are more resistant to fee compression
than other commonly used qualified default investment alternatives. According to Cerulli,
the explicit costs of all types of managed account programs, with the exception
of unified managed accounts (UMAs), varied only three to six basis points
between 2008 and 2014.Read more > | | Small Talk | ON
THIS DATE: In 461,
Saint Patrick, Christian missionary, bishop and apostle of Ireland, died at
Saul, Downpatrick, Ireland. In 1958,
the song ”Tequila” by the Champs hit No. 1 on the Billboard pop chart. In 1941,
the National Gallery of Art was officially opened by U.S. President Franklin D.
Roosevelt in Washington, D.C. In 1973,
the first American prisoners of war (POWs) were released from the “Hanoi
Hilton” in Hanoi, North Vietnam.
TUESDAY
TRIVIA: An ear of corn always has an even number of
rows of kernels.
| TRIVIAL PURSUITS: On
January 15, 1919, Boston, Massachusetts, experienced a disastrous flood, but it
wasn’t water that flowed through the city. What caused the disastrous flood?Read more > | Share the good news with a friend! Pass the Dash along – and tell your
friends/associates they can sign up for their own copy.Read more > | News from PLANSPONSOR.com
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