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Compliance June 17, 2011
ASPPA Asks DoL for Fee Disclosure Extension
The American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries
(ASPPA) has responded to the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DoL) June 1
publication in the Federal Register.
Reported by Sara Kelly
According to the announcement, both ASPPA and the Council of Independent Recordkeepers (CIKR) support the full disclosure by service providers of what fees they charge and how they are paid, and believe that greater fee transparency allows plan sponsors to make better, more informed decisions, ultimately to the benefit of plan participants.
Following the delay in the finalization of the 408(b)(2) and 404(a) regulations and the ongoing uncertainty of what they will require, ASPPA and CIKR have recommended an extension of the applicability date in order to provide sufficient time to build the infrastructure necessary to support the new disclosure regime.
“Given the delay in finalizing the 408(b)(2) regulation as well as the ongoing review of electronic disclosure standards under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA),” said Craig P. Hoffman, General Counsel and Director of Regulatory Affairs. “We [ASPPA and CIKR] ask that the effective date for these regulations be no earlier than one year after the 408(b)(2) regulation is published in final form.”