DOL Not Giving Up on Fiduciary Rule
Both the DOL and SEC have a September 2019 date for a final action on corresponding fiduciary and best interest rules—could they be collaborating?
Tag: SEC
SEC Commissioner Calls for Simpler Ways to Compare Investments
Commissioner Stein also encouraged the SEC to implement “mandatory periodic disclosures about the value of investors’ 401(k) accounts to show how much income will likely be generated in retirement.”
Testing of SEC Adviser Relationship Summary Form Yields Troubling Results
A group of investor advocacy organizations is calling on the Securities and Exchange Commission to significantly revise its adviser customer relationship summary form requirements within its broader Regulation Best Interest proposal.
SEC Proposals Would Level the Playing Field for ETFs
The agency is also proposing more disclosure to investors about ETFs, how they work and their costs.
Former State Street Executive Convicted of Defrauding Transition Management Customers
The SEC's complaint alleges that the former executive led a scheme to add secret commissions to securities trades performed for at least six clients of State Street's transition management business, which helps institutional clients move their investments between asset managers or otherwise restructure large investment portfolios.
Former New York Retirement Fund Employee Sentenced in Pay-to-Play Scheme
Navnoor Kang allegedly used his position to direct up to $2.5 billion in state business to registered representatives at two different broker/dealers.
SEC Finds Merrill Lynch Traders Overcharged for RMBS
The brokerage firm will pay more than $15 million in settlement.
SEC Seeks Comments on Fund Disclosures and the Fees Charged for Them
The agency also adopted a new rule allowing fund companies to share information via the Internet.
Barry’s Pickings: The Possibility of a ‘Provider’s ERISA’
Michael Barry, president of October Three (O3) Plan Advisory Services LLC, discusses how the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC)’s broker/investment adviser standard-of-conduct proposal would be necessary to the creation of a provider-based retirement system.
Appeals Court Rejects AARP, State Arguments to Revive DOL Fiduciary Rule Process
The decision puts another layer of finality on the fate of the now-defunct Department of Labor fiduciary rule expansion, meaning the compliance landscape has shifted yet again for plan sponsors.
New Conflict-of-Interest Proposal Expected from SEC
As the Department of Labor (DOL) fiduciary rule process appears destined for defeat, experts speculate about the possibility that the SEC could take its own regulatory actions to address adviser conflict of interests; some say a new SEC rule could be proposed this week.
SEC Proposes Moving Public Liquidity Risk Disclosure to Annual Reports
This would replace a pending requlation that would have required the disclosure to be made on Form N-PORT on a quarterly basis.
SEC Deadline for Open-End Fund Liquidity Classification is Extended
However, the deadlines for creating a liquidity risk management program and to limit illiquid investments to 15% of a fund’s portfolio remain unchanged: December 1, 2018, for larger fund groups and June 1, 2019, for smaller fund groups.
Retirement Funds Among Targets of Securities Fraud
Brokers serving retirement plans and other institutional investors were accused of routing orders for equities to an offshore affiliate in Bermuda that “executed them on a riskless basis and opportunistically boosted profits by adding a mark-up or mark-down on the price of a security.”
The SEC Forms Fixed Income Market Structure Advisory Committee
The committee's initial focus will be on the corporate bond and municipal securities markets.
Dodd-Frank, Fiduciary Rule Repeal Progresses in Congress
A bill that would repeal much of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act and block the DOL fiduciary rule has cleared the House Financial Services Committee.
Company Stock Registration Not Necessarily Required With Brokerage Window
The SEC says whether offering a brokerage window in a 401(k) through which investments in employer securities can be made involves an offer of employer securities requiring Securities Act registration depends on the extent of the plan sponsor’s involvement.
What to Anticipate from Washington for Retirement Plans
While retirement industry regulators have been busy, not much has come out of Congress affecting retirement plans, but that may soon change.
House Passes Bill Opposing Fiduciary Rule
The Retail Investor Protection Act is likely to be vetoed by
the White House.
Regulatory Change Brewing Beyond Fiduciary Rule
Focus on DOL’s fiduciary rulemaking is understandable—but
there are other major regulatory changes in the works that will directly impact
retirement plans.