Category Archives: investment adviser

Best Interest Standard of Care for Advisors #54


2020-02, best interest, DOL, fiduciary, investment adviser, IRA, prohibited transaction, rollovers
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The Department of Labor’s “Fiduciary Rule,” PTE 2020-02: An Overview

This article is an overview of the requirements of PTE 2020-02. It discusses the expanded fiduciary definition, the conditions in the PTE, and the DOL’s non-enforcement policy in effect until December 20, 2021.

Key Takeaways

    • Broker-dealers, investment advisers, insurance companies and banks (“financial institutions) are already subject to the expanded fiduciary definition for advice to plans, participants and IRAs, including recommendations to rollover plan benefits to an IRA.
    • The new fiduciary “rule” has two parts with their own effective dates. The first part, the expanded definition of fiduciary advice, became effective for enforcement purposes on February 16.
    • The second part, the prohibited transaction exemption, also became effective on February 16, but a non-enforcement policy delayed the enforcement of most, but not all, of its conditions to December 21.That non-enforcement requires satisfaction of the Impartial Conduct Standards (ICS).The non-enforcement policy applies to the DOL and IRS, but does not impact private rights of action.
    • Financial institutions need to have practices in place now to comply with the ICS, and then, before December 21, need to have disclosures, policies, practices and processes in place for compliance with the full exemption. Because of the volume of work to be done, that work should be underway by now.
    • This article is a summary of the work to be done.

The DOL’s prohibited transaction exemption (PTE) 2020-02 (Improving Investment Advice for Workers & Retirees) allows investment advisers, broker-dealers, banks, and insurance companies (“financial institutions”), and their representatives (“investment professionals”), to receive conflicted compensation resulting from non-discretionary fiduciary investment advice to retirement plans, participants and IRA owners (“retirement investors”).

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Best Interest Standard of Care for Advisors #53


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The Department of Labor’s “Fiduciary Rule,” PTE 2020-02:  The FAQs

This series focuses on the DOL’s new fiduciary “rule”, which was effective on February 16. This, and the next several, articles look at the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) issued by the DOL to explain the fiduciary definition and the exemption for conflicts of interest.

Key Takeaways

  • The new fiduciary “rule” has two parts with their own effective dates.
  • The first part-the expanded definition of fiduciary advice-became effective for enforcement purposes on February 16.
  • The second part-the prohibited transaction exemption-also became on February 16, but a non-enforcement policy delayed most, but not all, of its conditions to December 21.
  • The condition now in effect is satisfaction of the Impartial Conduct Standards.

The DOL’s prohibited transaction exemption (PTE) 2020-02 (Improving Investment Advice for Workers & Retirees) allows investment advisers, broker-dealers, banks, and insurance companies (“financial institutions”), and their representatives (“investment professionals”), to receive conflicted compensation resulting from non-discretionary fiduciary investment advice to retirement plans, participants and IRA owners (“retirement investors”).

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Best Interest Standard of Care for Advisors #51


2020-02, best interest, broker-dealers, DOL, fiduciary, investment adviser, prohibited transaction, reg BI, rollovers
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The Department of Labor’s “Fiduciary Rule,” PTE 2020-02 (Part 16): Mitigation Strategies

This series focuses on the DOL’s new fiduciary “rule”. This post is the 16th in a subseries discussing special compliance issues related to the rule. This article looks at compliance with the rule’s mitigation requirements, with particular emphasis on broker-dealers and investment advisers.

On February 16, 2021, the DOL’s prohibited transaction exemption (PTE) 2020-02 became effective. (Improving Investment Advice for Workers & Retirees) It allows investment advisers, broker-dealers, banks, and insurance companies (“financial institutions”), and their representatives (“investment professionals”), to receive conflicted compensation resulting from non-discretionary fiduciary investment advice to retirement plans, participants and IRA owners (“retirement investors”).

In the preamble to the PTE, the DOL announced an expanded definition of fiduciary advice, meaning that many more financial institutions and investment professionals will be fiduciaries and therefore will need the protections afforded by the exemption. They will also need to satisfy the best interest standard of care. The relief provided by the exemption is conditional, that is, the “conditions” in the exemption must be satisfied to obtain relief from the prohibited transaction rules in ERISA and the Internal Revenue Code. For the period from February 16 until December 20, a DOL and IRS non-enforcement policy based on the Impartial Conduct Standards will be available.

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Best Interest Standard of Care for Advisors #50


2020-02, best interest, broker-dealers, DOL, fiduciary, investment adviser, IRA, prohibited transaction, reg BI, rollovers
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The Department of Labor’s “Fiduciary Rule,” PTE 2020-02 (Part 15): Mitigation Strategies

This series focuses on the DOL’s new fiduciary “rule”. This post is the 15th in a subseries discussing special or unique compliance issues related to the rule. This article looks at compliance with the rule’s mitigation requirements, with particular emphasis on broker-dealers and investment advisers.

On February 16, 2021, the DOL’s prohibited transaction exemption (PTE) 2020-02 became effective. (Improving Investment Advice for Workers & Retirees) It allows investment advisers, broker-dealers, banks, and insurance companies (“financial institutions”), and their representatives (“investment professionals”), to receive conflicted compensation resulting from non-discretionary fiduciary investment advice to retirement plans, participants and IRA owners (“retirement investors”).

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Best Interest Standard of Care for Advisors #49


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The Department of Labor’s “Fiduciary Rule,” PTE 2020-02 (Part 14): The Two Compensation Requirements: Reasonable Compensation and Mitigation

This series focused on the DOL’s new fiduciary “rule”. This post is the 14th in a subseries discussing special or unique compliance issues related to the rule. This article looks at the issues related to complying with the rule’s reasonable compensation and mitigation requirements, with particular emphasis on broker-dealers and investment advisers.

On February 16, 2021, the DOL’s prohibited transaction exemption (PTE) 2020-02 became effective. (Improving Investment Advice for Workers & Retirees) It allows investment advisers, broker-dealers, banks, and insurance companies (“financial institutions”), and their representatives (“investment professionals”), to receive conflicted compensation resulting from non-discretionary fiduciary investment advice to retirement plans, participants and IRA owners (“retirement investors”).

In the preamble to the PTE, the DOL announced an expanded definition of fiduciary advice, meaning that many more financial institutions and investment professionals will be fiduciaries and therefore will need the protections afforded by the exemption. They will also need to satisfy the best interest standard of care. The relief provided by the exemption is conditional, that is, the “conditions” in the exemption must be satisfied to obtain relief from the prohibited transaction rules in ERISA and the Internal Revenue Code. For the period from February 16 until December 20, a DOL and IRS non-enforcement policy based on the Impartial Conduct Standards will be available.

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Best Interest Standard of Care for Advisors #48


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The Department of Labor’s “Fiduciary Rule,” PTE 2020-02 (Part 13): The Two Compensation Requirements: Reasonable Compensation and Mitigation

On February 16, 2021, the DOL’s prohibited transaction exemption (PTE) 2020-02 became effective. (Improving Investment Advice for Workers & Retirees) It allows investment advisers, broker-dealers, banks, and insurance companies (“financial institutions”), and their representatives (“investment professionals”), to receive conflicted compensation resulting from non-discretionary fiduciary investment advice to retirement plans, participants and IRA owners (“retirement investors”).

In the preamble to the PTE, the DOL announced an expanded definition of fiduciary advice, meaning that many more financial institutions and investment professionals will be fiduciaries and therefore will need the protections afforded by the exemption. They will also need to satisfy the best interest standard of care. The relief provided by the exemption is conditional. That is, the “conditions” in the exemption must be satisfied. For the period from February 16 until December 20, a DOL and IRS non-enforcement policy based on the Impartial Conduct Standards will be available.

This article builds on my earlier posts: Part 11, Mitigation, and Part 12, Reasonable Compensation. They are connected in the sense that unreasonably high compensation would be difficult to mitigate.

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Best Interest Standard of Care for Advisors #47


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The Department of Labor’s “Fiduciary Rule,” PTE 2020-02 (Part 12): The Requirement that Investment Advisers and Broker-Dealers to Receive No More Than Reasonable Compensation

On February 16, 2021, the DOL’s prohibited transaction exemption (PTE) 2020-02 became effective. The PTE is titled “Improving Investment Advice for Workers & Retirees.” It allows investment advisers, broker-dealers, banks, and insurance companies (“financial institutions”), and their representatives (“investment professionals”), to receive conflicted compensation resulting from non-discretionary fiduciary investment advice to retirement plans, participants and IRA owners (“retirement investors”).

In the preamble to the PTE, the DOL announced an expanded definition of fiduciary advice, meaning that many more financial institutions and investment professionals will be fiduciaries and therefore will need the protections afforded by the exemption. In addition, they will need prudent, or best practice, processes to satisfy the fiduciary and best interest standards of care.

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In Case You Missed It: fredreish.com Popular Insights – First Quarter 2021


best interest, broker-dealers, DOL, fiduciary, investment adviser, IRA, prohibited transaction, SEC

Each calendar quarter, I post approximately 12 articles on my blog, fredreish.com. This quarterly digest provides links to the most popular posts during the past three months so that you can catch up on what you missed or re-read them.

This quarter there was continued interest in the DOL’s final prohibited transaction exemption (PTE) that permits investment advisers, broker-dealers, banks and insurance companies, and their representatives, to receive conflicted compensation resulting from nondiscretionary fiduciary investment advice. Issued on December 18, 2020, the PTE is titled “Improving Investment Advice for Workers & Retirees.” The citation is Prohibited Transaction Exemption 2020-02. The exemption is effective February 16, 2021.

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Best Interest Standard of Care for Advisors #46


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The Department of Labor’s “Fiduciary Rule”, PTE 2020-02 (Part 11): The Requirement that Investment Advisers and Broker-Dealers Mitigate Conflicts

On February 16, 2021, the DOL’s prohibited transaction exemption (PTE) 2020-02 became effective. The PTE is titled “Improving Investment Advice for Workers & Retirees.” It allows investment advisers, broker-dealers, banks, and insurance companies (“financial institutions”), and their representatives (“investment professionals”), to receive conflicted compensation resulting from non-discretionary fiduciary investment advice to retirement plans, participants and IRA owners (“retirement investors”).

In the preamble to the PTE, the DOL announced an expanded definition of fiduciary advice, meaning that many more financial institutions and investment professionals will be fiduciaries and therefore will need the protections afforded by the exemption. In addition, they will need prudent, or best practice, processes to satisfy the fiduciary and best interest standards of care.

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Best Interest Standard of Care for Advisors #45


best interest, broker-dealers, DOL, fiduciary, investment adviser, IRA, prohibited transaction, SEC

The Department of Labor’s Prohibited Transaction Exemption (Part 10): Plan Information for Rollover Recommendations

On February 16, 2021, the DOL’s prohibited transaction exemption (PTE) 2020-02 became effective. The PTE is titled “Improving Investment Advice for Workers & Retirees.” It allows investment advisers, broker-dealers, banks, and insurance companies (“financial institutions”), and their representatives (“investment professionals”), to receive conflicted compensation resulting from non-discretionary fiduciary investment advice to retirement plans, participants and IRA owners (“retirement investors”).

In the preamble to the PTE, the DOL also announced an expanded definition of fiduciary advice, meaning that many more financial institutions and investment professionals will be fiduciaries and therefore will need the protections afforded by the exemption. In addition, they will need prudent, or best practice, processes to satisfy the fiduciary and best interest standards of care.

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