Deals & People October 9, 2008

Fidelity Alum Carney Joins Reynolds at Putnam

Putnam Investments has named Jeffrey R. Carney as senior managing director and head of global marketing and products.
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A Putnam news release said the 46-year-old Carney, who comes to Putnam from the Bank of America, will assume his new duties October 27.

According to the announcement, Carney will be responsible for Putnam’s Defined Contribution Business, Global Product Management, Public and Government Relations, Global Marketing, and Marketing Communications.

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“This new role at Putnam acknowledges the outstanding opportunities we see for Putnam’s products and services in the global marketplace, and the need to augment our organization with a world-class, senior marketing executive,” said president and CEO Robert L. Reynolds, in the release. Reynolds served as COO at Fidelity (see Fidelity Alum Reynolds to Lead Putnam Investments).

Carney previously was president of Bank of America Retirement and Global Wealth & Investment Management Client Solutions (see BoA Names New President of Integrated Retirement Business).

Before joining Bank of America, Carney was president of Fidelity Retirement Services. Prior to this role, he served as president, Fidelity Personal Investments since 2002. He joined Fidelity in April 2001 as president, Fidelity Investments Canada.


Compliance October 9, 2008

EBSA Schedules Advice Rule Public Hearing

The U. S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) scheduled an October 21 public hearing on its proposed regulation for providing retirement plan investment advice.
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EBSA officials said in a news release that they decided to hold the public hearing to give members of the public an opportunity to add to what they had already communicated to the department via written comments.

The focus of the session will be the EBSA proposals released August 22 governing the provision of advice to participants and beneficiaries of self-directed plans such as 401(k)s or IRAs (see EBSA Clarifies Investment Advice Regulations). The DoL’s rulemaking was intended to clarify that Pension Protection Act provision allowing participants of 401(k) plans and IRAs to receive investment advice generated by an unbiased computer model or an adviser compensated on a “level-fee” basis.

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Regulators said when the proposal was released, it was generally designed to protect participants from receiving investment advice from individuals with a vested interest in products.

Persons wishing to testify at the hearing should submit by October 16 an outline of topics to be discussed to e-ORI@dol.gov.

The hearing will take place in Room S-3215 A-B, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW, in Washington, D.C.

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