Wells Fargo Faced With Revenue Sharing Lawsuit

Despite Wells Fargo's admission and resolution of an error, the Chattanooga Fire & Police Pension Fund wants an accounting of all compensation the bank received while it was trustee of the fund.

The Chattanooga Fire & Police Pension Fund filed a complaint in Tennessee state court asking for a full accounting from Wells Fargo of any compensation it has received from third parties during its years as trustee of the fund.

According to correspondence between the fund and the bank reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, the bank admitted it had kept revenue-sharing payments it owed to the retirement fund. Wells Fargo said it was the result of “a system set-up error.”

Never miss a story — sign up for PLANADVISER newsletters to keep up on the latest retirement plan adviser news.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the bank recently told the pension fund that the system problem had been corrected. However, the retirement fund disagrees with the amount of revenue sharing Wells Fargo says it received.

In a statement provided to PLANADVISER, Wells Fargo said: “We acknowledge that because there was a change directed by the client in 2017, we made an error in setting up the revenue sharing associated with that change appropriately, and the revenue share rebates did not occur as intended. We are sorry this error occurred, and upon discovery, the issue was fixed, and the total revenue share received from the third party fund companies (approximately $15,000) was returned to the pension fund. We have been in active dialogue with the client and have been committed to resolving this matter and are disappointed they felt the need to file a complaint requesting information we have provided and are very willing to provide.”

Despite Wells Fargo’s admission, the retirement fund also filed a whistleblower complaint with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission outlining the bank’s alleged improprieties.

VALIC, RetireUp Offer Retirement Plan Participant Planning Tool for Advisers

Retirement Pathfinder is dynamic, allowing for ad-hoc changes and a host of different scenarios.

VALIC, an AIG company, and RetireUp have partnered to create Retirement Pathfinder, a tool that VALIC’s advisers can use to show various investment scenarios to participants. VALIC is a retirement plan provider for health care, K-12, higher education, government and other not-for-profit organizations, and RetireUp is a provider of retirement planning software for financial advisers.

Retirement Pathfinder is delivered through a web-based portal that breaks down complex financial matters through informative graphics, educational materials and more. Rather than issue a questionnaire to participants to understand their risk tolerance and retirement goals, Retirement Pathfinder is dynamic, allowing for ad-hoc changes and a host of different scenarios. It can determine a participant’s lifestyle needs, discretionary lifestyle needs and the remaining income gap. The program explains a variety of investment options, including annuities, in a clear, concise way.

Never miss a story — sign up for PLANADVISER newsletters to keep up on the latest retirement plan adviser news.

“For 60 years, we have focused on the success of our clients, and we are always looking for opportunities to better serve them,” says Rob Scheinerman, president, group retirement, at AIG Life & Retirement. “That’s why we partnered with RetireUp to introduce Retirement Pathfinder. What’s especially unique about Retirement Pathfinder is that it allows a client to sit down with an adviser and map out the future they envision.”

«