Wells,
a vice president, will serve the Maryland market. He brings more than 18 years
of retirement and institutional sales experience to BB&T. Wells earned his
bachelor’s degree in business and finance from Mount Saint Mary’s College. He
also holds FINRA Series 7 and 63 licenses and the Certified Investment Management
Analyst designation.
Griggs brings more
than 20 years of retirement and institutional sales experience to his role. His
expertise includes relationship management, communications and retirement plan
sales in small, middle and large markets throughout the U.S. Griggs is a
graduate of Frostburg State University with a bachelor’s degree in
communications. He also holds FINRA Series 7, 6 and 63 licenses.
SPARK Recommends Disclaimers for Lifetime Income Illustrations
The SPARK Institute said it supports guidance that will encourage retirement plan sponsors and service providers to voluntarily furnish lifetime income illustrations to participants.
Responding
to the Department of Labor’s (DOL) Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
regarding lifetime income illustrations, the Institute urged the DOL to issue
guidance expressly stating that furnishing lifetime income illustrations (1) is
participant education, (2) will not constitute the provision of investment
advice or any other fiduciary act under ERISA, and (3) does not constitute the
offering or promise of any benefit under a plan.
The
Institute is concerned that any mandate to furnish illustrations or conditions
to a safe harbor that specify or appear to favor particular methodologies and
assumptions will become the primary, or possibly the only, way plan sponsors
will be willing to provide such illustrations and planning tools. “Despite the DOL’s good intentions, favoring
certain methodologies or providing a narrow safe harbor may result in
participants not being provided more robust information and tools that rely on
other reasonable approaches, including some that allow participants to
customize their information,” said SPARK General Counsel Larry Goldbrum in a
comment letter.
SPARK is also
concerned that the approach in the Notice will require service providers to
make system changes that are inconsistent with current best practices, and will
be burdensome and costly to accommodate. “The required changes will increase
compliance costs that will ultimately be borne by participants,” Goldbrum
added.
According
to the letter, if the DOL concludes that a requirement to furnish illustrations
is needed, it should be general and conceptual, and should be accompanied by a
broad and flexible safe harbor that covers multiple approaches and forms of
delivery. The illustration requirement and narrow safe harbor being
contemplated by the DOL will not provide adequate protection for the plan, the
plan sponsor, responsible plan fiduciaries or service providers from the
increased risks of claims and lawsuits. “Although the Notice included a safe
harbor, we continue to fear that the illustrations might be misinterpreted by
participants as either a promise of what their benefits might be or a guarantee
of benefits,” Goldbrum stated.
Additionally,
most plan sponsors are generally not able to provide illustrations to
participants without outside assistance and sophisticated systems. Service
providers can help plan sponsors do this but are unwilling to assume the
potential risk and liability that a safe harbor is intended to cover. Therefore,
The SPARK Institute also requested that the DOL specifically extend any and all
safe harbor protection to service providers in order to facilitate the process
of plan sponsors being able to work with them.
The
Institute also urged the DOL not to require illustrations to be provided on
paper participant benefit statements, but to allow plan sponsors to provide
illustrations to participants on their benefit statements, on separate reports,
or by making them available on a continuous basis through a website with
appropriate notice.