The DOL recently issued its final regulation on conflicted investment advice to participants. Unfortunately, the scope of the regulation is not well understood. For example, if an adviser does not have any conflicts (that is, if the adviser cannot vary its revenue or that of any affiliates based on the
Two other Drinker Biddle attorneys (Bruce Ashton and Joan Neri) and I just released a bulletin discussing what changes in the 408(b)(2) final regulation mean to registered investment advisers (RIAs). You can obtain a copy of the bulletin at: http://www.drinkerbiddle.com/resources/publications/2012/the-final-408b2-regulation-impact-on-rias While the final regulation clarifies a number of issues and
The DOL issued the final 408(b)(2) regulation on February 2, 2012. Key points are: The extension of the effective date to July 1, 2012; The fact that service providers are not required to provide a summary of the disclosures, though the DOL provided a sample “guide” that is not mandatory;
I have recently written an article on “Capturing Rollovers.” The article discusses the DOL’s guidance on the issues involved in capturing rollovers, both by broker-dealers and RIAs. The article analyzed that guidance and discussed programs for RIAs and broker-dealers. You can download a PDF of the article by clicking on the
This is another in a series of articles about interesting issues related to plan and participant disclosures. The DOL disclosure regulations for both plan sponsor and participant disclosures are not clear about the treatment of brokerage accounts for a plan (for example, a small profit sharing plan) or for a
As you may know, the Department of Labor recently announced that it was going to re-propose its proposed fiduciary investment advice regulation. As background, that proposal was intended to modify the Department’s current regulation that defines fiduciary investment advice . . . and also intended to expand the definition, so
In a departure from the recent series of 408(b)(2) articles, in this one I will be discussing the DOL’s decision to re-propose the fiduciary advice regulation. On September 19th, the Department of Labor announced that, rather than issuing a final regulation on fiduciary investment advice, it would be re-proposing the
Together with Bruce Ashton and Summer Conley, I have authored an article titled “DOL Investigations: Broker-Dealers and RIAs as Targets.” To see the full text of the article, click on the link included here: http://www.drinkerbiddle.com/resources/publications/2011/dol-investigations-broker-dealers-and-rias-as-targets In the article we discuss that in recent months, we have heard of at least
This is another in a series of short articles about interesting issues under the DOL’s new disclosure requirements. If a covered service provider (for example, an RIA or a broker-dealer, or their individual advisers) fails to timely provide the disclosures required under 408(b)(2), the “arrangement,” or relationship, between the service
Last week, the Department of Labor (DOL) extended the compliance date for 408(b)(2) to April 1, 2012. While that only gives us another three months (from the current deadline of January 1), it is welcome relief. We have several observations about the extension: Generally speaking, our service provider clients were
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