Compliance June 11, 2025

ERISA Advisory Council Releases QDIA Recommendations to DOL

The report was released after Democrats in Congress raised concerns about the council’s future, as it has not met since President Donald Trump’s inauguration.

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The ERISA Advisory Council has released a series of recommendations for the Department of Labor, aimed to improve qualified default investment alternatives in defined contribution plans, days after Democrats in the House of Representatives pressed the DOL about the council’s lack of meetings this year.

On June 2, Representative Bobby Scott, D-Virginia, the ranking member of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, and Representative Mark DeSaulnier, D-California, the ranking member of the House Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions, sent a letter to Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer inquiring why the ERISA Advisory Council has not yet held its first meeting this year, why previous council records were deleted from the DOL website and whether the administration was considering eliminating the council altogether.

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Also known as the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans, the ERISA Advisory Council is a 15-member body (the members are appointed to staggered three-year terms) that advises the DOL on issues related to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. The group is legally required to meet four times per year. Sources advised PLANSPONSOR in February, prior to Chavez-DeRemer’s March 10 confirmation, that the council was “on ice.”

Late last week, after the representatives’ public letter was sent to the DOL, the ERISA Advisory Council released its guidance on QDIAs, which had been finalized in December 2024 but not released in early March alongside the council’s final report on health insurance.

According to the council’s recommendations, the DOL should issue guidance through a “tips” document that could guide fiduciaries considering nonguaranteed and guaranteed retirement income options, inside or outside of a QDIA. The tips should be informed by relevant laws such as the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019 and the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022, as well as case law, according to the council.

The council also recommended that the DOL should provide and update disclosure guidance regarding investments held within a QDIA in the accumulation, transition and decumulation phases related to nonguaranteed and guaranteed retirement income solutions offered within or outside the QDIA. Participants would benefit from updates such as a longevity-risk calculator, according to the council.

Separately, the council recommended the DOL amend safe harbor regulations to allow QDIAs to be used for involuntary rollovers into individual retirement accounts.

“The new investment default options would be in addition to, not in lieu of, the existing capital preservation default,” according to the council.

The council reasoned that a plan’s default investment would generate better returns than the status quo, through which rollover IRAs can suffer from fees and low returns.

Compliance June 11, 2025

SEC’s Director of Investment Management to Step Down

Natasha Vij Greiner, who has led the division since March 2024, leaves after more than 23 years at the SEC.

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Division of Investment Management Director Natasha Vij Greiner will depart the Securities and Exchange Commission effective July 4, the SEC announced on Tuesday.

Greiner, who has led the division since March 2024, spent more than 23 years at the SEC.

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Natasha Vij Greiner

The Division of Investment Management is responsible for administering the Investment Company Act of 1940 and the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. The division oversees investment companies such as mutual funds and exchange-traded funds, as well as investment advisers.

“Natasha’s steadfast leadership and strong judgment have been invaluable assets to the SEC throughout her long and distinguished career,” SEC Chair Paul Atkins said in a statement. “I am grateful for her strategic counsel since I’ve become chairman. Her unwavering commitment to the agency’s mission and her ability to navigate complex regulatory landscapes with clarity will have a lasting effect.”

The release did not name a replacement, and the SEC declined comment.

Greiner previously served as deputy director of the Division of Examinations and as national associate director of the investment adviser/investment company examination program, which includes the private funds unit. She also held the position of associate director of the home office in the investment adviser/investment company examination program.

She began her SEC career in the Division of Examinations as a broker/dealer examiner. Greiner’s other roles included chief counsel and assistant chief counsel in the division of trading and markets, where she advised the commission on legal and policy matters impacting market participants and the functioning of the securities markets.

Earlier in her career, Greiner worked in the Division of Enforcement, including in the asset management unit, where she investigated potential violations of federal securities laws and litigated cases in both federal district court and administrative proceedings.

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