BCG Launches Customized Buyout Price Monitoring

The firm is also introducing a new corporate brand and website.

BCG Pension Risk Consultants is launching a new Customized Buyout Price Monitoring (CBPM) service. With this announcement, the company has also released a new corporate brand identity and website.

The CBPM is delivered via an interactive client portal. It is designed to provide comprehensive monthly pension liability monitoring to help sponsors manage the cost and de-risking of their plans.

“For over three decades, our dedication and focus on pension risk consulting and solution implementation has provided plan sponsors an integrated, one-stop solution for employers looking to address the costs and risks involved in their pension programs,” says Mike Devlin, founder and principal of BCG. “Additions to staff and our acquisition of Penbridge Advisors two years ago have broadened and enhanced BCG services, culminating today with the announcement of our new company branding and website that demonstrates the unique scope of services that we now bring to clients and their advisers.”

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Steve Keating, founder of Penbridge Advisors and now managing director of BCG, adds: “Our new CBPM service empowers plan sponsors to continually measure their plan’s ‘exit liability’ and other important liability measures, providing the information they need to navigate their plan’s de-risking journey.”


Emory University to Pay $16.75 Million to Settle 403(b) Excessive Fee Suit

The agreement also calls for the university to issue an RFP for recordkeeping services and engage an independent consultant to review investments, among other things.

A settlement agreement in the case of Henderson v. Emory University, et. al. has been filed. The parties announced they would settle in April.

Under the settlement agreement, Emory University has agreed to pay $16,750,000 to resolve the class action lawsuit.

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In addition, for a period of three years, within 30 calendar days after the end of each year, the defendants are to provide class counsel with information regarding investment alternatives and their fees, as well as a copy of the investment policy statements (IPS) for the plans. Settlement terms also ask for plan fiduciaries to retain an independent consultant within 90 calendar days of the settlement effective date, to review the plans’ existing investment structure in order to make recommendations. If the defendants fail to follow recommendations regarding the plans’ investment structure, they are required to document the reasoning and state the reasons in writing to class counsel along with the consultants’ reports.

The settlement agreement also calls for Emory to prohibit recordkeepers from using confidential employee information to market non-plan products and services, such as individual retirement accounts (IRAs), non-plan managed account services, life or disability insurance, investment products and wealth management services, unless requested by a plan participant. If the defendants enter into a new recordkeeping agreement during the settlement period, new contracts should include provisions restricting the recordkeeping company from soliciting participants into non-plan products and services.

In addition, the defendants are to issue a request for proposals (RFP) for recordkeeping and administrative services to at least four qualified service providers with experience in handling services to plans of similar size and complexity within 180 calendar days of the settlement effective date. The settlement agreement states that after responses to the RFP are reviewed, an independent consultant will provide recommendations to the plan. If plan fiduciaries choose not to move forward with any recommendations, they will have 30 calendar days to document the reasons for their decision and provide information to class counsel, along with the independent consultant’s report. Plan fiduciaries will also be required to provide class counsel with current recordkeeping contracts for the plans.

The lawsuit, brought on by allegations that the plans’ fiduciaries failed to use bargaining power to negotiate lower costs and use proper judgement when considering plan investments, was first filed in 2016 and is one of a series of litigation claims filed against universities. Plaintiffs in the case had also accused the university of congesting its investment lineup, however, U.S. District Judge Charles A. Pannell, Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia dismissed that claim.

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