Compliance March 29, 2017

OMB Receives Final Fiduciary Rule Delay Language

The Trump administration is nearly set to formally implement its delay of the Obama-era DOL fiduciary rule, set to take effect in just two weeks, aimed at curbing conflicts of interest in the advisory and investment industries. 
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Reports have emerged that the Trump White House has submitted the final version of a rule to delay the implementation of the Department of Labor (DOL) fiduciary rule adopted by the previous president but left to the current leadership to implement.

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is among the many federal agencies that do not actively broadcast their activities; the news comes from an updated regulation tracking page on the OMB website. That page shows OMB, the entity tasked with analyzing the budgetary and economic impacts of new regulations and laws, received the text of the final version of the delay order on March 28.

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A variety of sources have suggested the 15-day comment period allowed on the proposed version of the final fiduciary rule delay measure was shorter than either precedence or prudence would seem to dictate—yet the administration argued its hand was forced by the rapidly approaching deadlines assigned by the outgoing Obama administration. Indeed, it would not be easy or enjoyable for advisory firms to come into compliance with the stricter DOL standards, only to see them rolled back weeks or months later.

Assuming the final version will closely resemble what was proposed and commented on, it is important to note this new delay rulemaking does nothing to actually declaw the fiduciary rule and its related prohibited transaction exemptions. It is simply a measure to give the DOL more time to decide how to proceed.

It will certainly help bring clarity to the entire effort once the president’s Labor Secretary nominee is (finally) installed. Readers will likely recall the botched effort to install Andrew Puzder to the position. Now the expectation is that the new nominee, former member of the National Labor Relations Board R. Alexander Acosta, could be confirmed as soon as this week. Acosta and his deputies will then have to decide how to proceed in terms of actually removing the fiduciary rule. 

Client Service March 28, 2017

Providers Offering More Health Plan Metrics to Plan Sponsors

Leading homepages now provide more diverse selections of additional plan data, which are often part of new plan health tools that offer intuitive summaries of overall plan health, Corporate Insight found.
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Firms generally provide more effective retirement plan sponsor site homepages than when the topic was first analyzed in May 2015, according to Corporate Insight’s Retirement Plan Monitor – Institutional Report.

However, there is still significant room for improvement. Most of the homepages provide less than complete selections of plan data, typically limited to the total plan balance, a participant count and perhaps a few basic allocation or activity details. Only 12 of the 28 (43%) total data points identified in the report appear on at least one-third of the analyzed homepages.

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However, the leading homepages now provide more diverse selections of additional plan data, such as plan participation rates, average salary deferrals, number of properly diversified participants and various participant retirement readiness metrics. These data points are often part of new plan health tools that offer intuitive summaries of overall plan health.

In addition to these new plan health resources, firms provide varying levels of additional resources directly on homepages. Participant search tools and sponsor alerts are two of the most important homepage resources and appear on 75% and 67% of pages, respectively, while additional important resources such as sponsor messages (33%), to-do lists (25%) and legislative news (25%) appear less frequently.

Most homepages include a variety of quick links to key site areas, providing direct access to frequently used resources upon login. Homepage organization is also a general strength, and most firms (75%) implement multiple features to help present content in a space-efficient manner, such as expandable sections, tab structures, section view filters and carousels.

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