Walgreen Sued for Keeping Underperforming TDFs in 401(k)

Despite a market “teeming with better-performing alternatives,” the plaintiffs say, Walgreen selected the Northern Trust Funds, which already had a history of poor performance.

A group of current and former participants in the Walgreen Profit-Sharing Retirement Plan, individually and as representatives of a class of participants and beneficiaries of the plan, have filed a lawsuit on behalf of the plan for breach of fiduciary duties under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).

The lawsuit names as defendants Walgreen Co., the Retirement Plan Committee For Walgreen Profit-Sharing Retirement Plan and its members, and the Trustees for the Walgreen Profit-Sharing Retirement Trust and its members.

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The complaint notes that as fiduciaries, the Walgreen defendants must prudently curate the plan’s investment options. They must regularly monitor plan investments and remove ones that become imprudent. The lawsuit alleges that the defendants breached these fiduciary duties by adding to the plan in 2013 a suite of poorly performing funds called the Northern Trust Focus Target Retirement Trusts and keeping these funds in the plan despite their continued underperformance.

Despite a market “teeming with better-performing alternatives,” the plaintiffs say, Walgreen selected the Northern Trust Funds, which already had a history of poor performance. According to the complaint, they had significantly underperformed their benchmark indexes and comparable target-date funds since Northern Trust launched the funds in 2010.

The lawsuit contends it was predictable that the Northern Trust Funds continued underperforming through the present. For nearly a decade, these investment options performed worse than 70% to 90% percent of peer funds, according to the complaint. The plaintiffs say not only does Walgreen refuse to remove the funds, it has actually added Northern Trust funds to the plan’s investment lineup, and selected the Northern Trust target-date funds as the plan’s default investment.

According to the complaint, the funds now comprise 11 of the 24 investment options in the plan and collectively hold more than $3 billion in plan assets, which represents more than 30% of the plan’s assets. “Walgreen’s imprudent decision to retain the Northern Trust Funds has had a large, tangible impact on participants’ retirement accounts. Based on an analysis of data compiled by Morningstar, Inc., Plaintiffs project the Plan lost upwards of $300 million in retirement savings since 2014 because of Walgreen’s decision to retain the Northern Trust Funds instead of removing them,” the complaint states.

It further says, “The Northern Trust Funds have also impaired the Plan’s overall performance. According to Brightscope, the average Plan participant could earn $193,925 less in retirement savings than employees in top-rated retirement plans of a similar size. The $193,925 disparity translates to an additional 10 years of work per participant.”

The plaintiffs are seeking to enforce the Walgreen defendants’ personal liability under ERISA to make good to the plan all losses resulting from each breach of fiduciary duty occurring during from January 1, 2014, to the date of judgment. In addition, they seek such other equitable or remedial relief for the plan as the court may deem appropriate.

Notably, given the impending U.S. Supreme Court decision in the case of Intel v. Sulyma regarding when “actual knowledge” actually starts for retirement plan participants for use in deciding when a case is filed beyond the statutory limits under ERISA, the Walgreen complaint says the plaintiffs did not have knowledge of all the material facts until shortly before they filed the complaint. “Further, Plaintiffs do not have actual knowledge of the specifics of the Walgreen Defendants’ decision-making processes with respect to the Plan, including the Walgreen Defendants’ processes for monitoring and removing Plan investments, because this information is solely within the possession of the Walgreen Defendants prior to discovery,” the complaint states.

Walgreen declined to comment on pending litigation.

Retirement Industry People Moves

BPAS and F&M Trust link regional retirement plan businesses; Grant Thornton adds Advisory Services principal; Nuveen updates portfolio management group for two funds; and more.  

Art by Subin Yang

Art by Subin Yang

BPAS and F&M Trust Link Regional Retirement Plan Businesses

BPAS will partner with F&M Trust for its retirement plan business across southern Pennsylvania.  

BPAS began working with F&M Trust in 2007 on various retirement plan opportunities, providing recordkeeping, administration, and trading/custody services to bank clients. F&M Trust began to see differences among platforms and started getting requests for a higher level of plan consulting and HR outsourcing capabilities. This change has led clients to migrate to the F&M Trust/BPAS partnership.

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“Having worked with BPAS for many years, we kicked the tires thoroughly,” says Ronald Froeschle, director of Retirement Plans at F&M Trust. “We felt good transitioning our DC and DB plans because of our overall comfort level with the BPAS people, expertise, and flexibility. We are excited to enhance our retirement plans through this partnership and consolidate the rest of our client plans as well.”

When all client plans are converted, the F&M Trust/BPAS partnership will serve approximately 50 qualified plans.

According to Paul Neveu, president of BPAS Plan Administration & Recordkeeping Services, “The focus of corporate trustees has shifted over the last decade. There has always been a focus on investments and fiduciary processes, but now we see more emphasis on outcomes—working with participants and retirement plan committees to drive key success measures for each plan. Our partnership with F&M Trust is a great example of this. We appreciate the expertise and commitment that F&M Trust brings to client relationships, as well as their open dialogue and constant evaluation of the plan sponsor and participant experience. We look forward to growing our partnership in the coming years as an extension to the range of banking and investment services that F&M Trust brings to the marketplace.”

Grant Thornton Brings in Advisory Services Principal

Grant Thornton LLP has named Jim Peko as the national managing principal of its Advisory Services practice. In this role, he will oversee the strategic direction and operations of the firm’s advisory-services offerings.

Peko succeeds Srikant Sastry, who led Advisory Services for the past five years of his 15-year tenure with the firm and has most recently served as national managing principal of the firm’s Transaction Services practice, where he guided a wide range of clients through a variety of complex transactions.

In addition to building and expanding Transaction Services as a key offering for Grant Thornton, Peko has served as a member of the firm’s Partnership Board for the past 20 months. He is also a member of the board of directors for the American Bankruptcy Institute, and is a chartered financial analyst, a certified insolvency and restructuring adviser and certified in distressed business valuation.

Peko received a master’s degree in finance from Fordham University and a bachelor’s degree in economics and accounting from St. Peter’s College.

Nuveen Updates Portfolio Management Group for Two Funds

The Nuveen Real Estate Income Fund and Nuveen Diversified Dividend and Income Fund have updated their portfolio management teams.

Effective September 3, Nathan Gear will be named to the funds’ current portfolio management teams and will focus on the portions of the funds managed by Security Capital Research & Management Incorporated. Each fund’s investment objectives, investment strategies and management philosophies remain unchanged.

Gear is an executive director of Security Capital Research & Management Incorporated where, as a senior member of the Investment Analysis Team, he leads the fundamental analysis and pricing of REIT fixed income senior securities. Prior to joining Security Capital in 2006, he was involved in the underwriting and analysis of real estate loans for JPMorgan. Gear received his bachelor’s degree with honors from Pensacola Christian College and is a member of the Chartered Financial Analyst Institute.

Trinity Names Asset Management SVP, Among Other Hires

Trinity Real Estate Investments LLC appointed hospitality industry veteran Christopher Ford as senior vice president of Asset Management.

Ford joins Trinity from Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc., where he most recently served as senior vice president, Asset Management Europe and Asia. In his new position, he is responsible for operational oversight of Trinity’s investment portfolio. Ford will work closely with Vice President of Development Craig Lovett, who manages the execution of Trinity’s capital improvement initiatives. Both executives report directly to Managing Partner Greg Dickhens, who oversees Trinity’s asset management functions.

In addition to Ford, Trinity has incorporated a number of strategic hires over the past year. Most recently, Drew Wallace joined the firm as director of Asset Management from Davidson Hotels & Resorts, and Ana‑Cecilia Aguilar joined as an associate from JLL Hotels & Hospitality Group. Both Wallace and Aguilar will report to Ford.

Prior to joining Host Hotels & Resorts in 2006, Ford served as vice president of Finance, North America at The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, L.L.C. He also spent 15 years working in various roles at Marriott International, Inc. Ford received a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Kentucky, a master’s degree from Georgetown University, and a master’s in real estate from Johns Hopkins University.

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