Subscribe (Free) to
Daily or Weekly Newsletters
Post a Job

Featured Jobs

Retirement Plan Administrator

Bates & Company, Inc.
(Remote / Winter Park FL)

Bates & Company, Inc. logo

Director of 3(16) Operations

Compass
(Remote / NH / Hybrid)

Compass logo

Defined Benefit Combo Cash Balance Compliance Consultant

Loren D. Stark Company (LDSCO)
(Remote)

Loren D.  Stark Company (LDSCO) logo

Loan & Distribution Specialist

AimPoint Pension
(Remote)

AimPoint Pension logo

Regional Vice President of Sales

The Retirement Plan Company
(Remote / AL / FL / GA / MS)

The Retirement Plan Company logo

Business Development Director

AimPoint Pension
(Remote / Pompano Beach FL / AL / GA)

AimPoint Pension logo

View More Employee Benefits Jobs

Free Newsletters

“BenefitsLink continues to be the most valuable resource we have at the firm.”

-- An attorney subscriber

Mobile app icon
LinkedIn icon     Twitter icon     Facebook icon

103 Matching News Items

1.  Text of Eighth Circuit Opinion Dismissing ERISA Stock Drop Suit Against Wells Fargo (PDF)
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit Link to more items from this source
July 28, 2020
13 pages. "This appeal arises out of the unauthorized-accounts scandal at Wells Fargo.... The initial public disclosure of the fraud caused the market value of Wells Fargo's stock to drop drastically ... Appellants alleged that, by failing to take corrective measures to protect the Plan participants, such as publicly disclosing Wells Fargo's unethical sales practices prior to September 2016, freezing investment in the Wells Fargo Stock Funds, or purchasing a hedging product, Appellees breached their duties of prudence and loyalty under ERISA.... We find that a prudent fiduciary -- even one who knows disclosure is inevitable and that earlier disclosure may ameliorate some harm to the company's stock price and reputation -- could readily conclude that it would do more harm than good to disclose information about Wells Fargo's sales practices prior to the completion of the government's investigation. " [Allen v. Wells Fargo, No. 18-2781 (8th Cir. Jul. 27, 2020)]
2.  Lawsuit Alleges Wells Fargo Advisor's Mistake Caused Costly RMD Shortfall
ThinkAdvisor Link to more items from this source
Jan. 3, 2024
"A Wells Fargo advisor's error in entering an IRA trust beneficiary's birthdate caused a significant shortfall in required minimum distributions over several years, leaving the trust with over $130,000 in [IRS] penalties, according to a recent lawsuit[.]" [Lowe v. Wells Fargo & Co., No. 23-07380 (D. La. complaint filed Dec. 21, 2023)]
3.  New Lawsuit Accuses Wells Fargo 401(k) Plan Fiduciaries of Self-Dealing
PLANSPONSOR; free registration may be required Link to more items from this source
Mar. 17, 2020
"[T]he plaintiff says the retirement plan committee defendants failed to satisfy threshold procedural norms needed for a non-conflicted fiduciary to satisfy its duties of loyalty and prudence under ERISA. According to the complaint, the committee defendants selected and retained Wells Fargo products over materially identical, yet cheaper, non-proprietary alternatives; selected Wells Fargo products that had no performance history that could form the basis of a fiduciary's objective decision-making process; and failed to remove proprietary funds despite sustained underperformance." [Becker v. Wells Fargo, No. 20-1803 (N.D. Cal. complaint filed Mar. 13, 2020)]
4.  Text of District Court Opinion Dismissing Participant Claims of Breach of ERISA Duty of Loyalty in Wells Fargo Stock Drop Claim (PDF)
U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota Link to more items from this source
July 23, 2018
"[P]laintiffs do not claim that defendants misled them about 'plan- and benefit- specific information,' such as the terms of Wells Fargo's 401(k) plan.... Instead, plaintiffs claim that defendants failed to disclose inside corporate information 'that might affect the value of the corporation's stock' -- information that would be of interest to every member of the investing public.... [To] the extent that plaintiffs' loyalty claim relies solely on defendants' nondisclosure of inside information about Wells Fargo's present and future financial condition, plaintiffs' loyalty claim must be dismissed." [In re: Wells Fargo ERISA 401(k) Litigation, No. 16-3405 (D. Minn. July 19, 2018)]
5.  Wells Fargo Scores Rare Win in 401(k) Fee Litigation Series
Bloomberg BNA Link to more items from this source
May 30, 2017
"The allegations of high fees and poor performance failed, a federal judge ruled ... because the investors didn't provide a meaningful benchmark for comparing the Wells Fargo funds. The investors pointed to lower-fee funds offered by Vanguard, but the judge rejected this comparison after finding that the Vanguard funds had a different investment strategy than the Wells Fargo target-date funds. The judge also said Wells Fargo can't be held liable for 'failing to choose the cheapest fund.' " [Meiners v. Wells Fargo & Co., No. 16-3981 (D. Minn. May 25, 2017]
6.  Wells Fargo Cross-Selling Scandal Spawns ERISA Class Action
Bloomberg BNA Link to more items from this source
Oct. 11, 2016
"[T]he new lawsuit alleges that Wells Fargo allowed workers to continue investing retirement savings in the company's stock, despite knowing that stock price was artificially inflated because of the not-yet-uncovered cross-selling scheme. According to the complaint, Wells Fargo's stock price nearly doubled during the six-year period of increased cross-selling, before dropping in value once news of the scheme broke." [Allen v. Wells Fargo, No. 16-3405 (D. Minn., complaint filed Oct. 7, 2016)]
7.  Wells Fargo Comment Letter to SEC on Duties of Brokers, Dealers and Investment Advisers (PDF)
Wells Fargo Link to more items from this source
July 8, 2013
"Wells Fargo's support for a uniform fiduciary duty is conditioned on the SEC's conduct of a proper cost-benefit analysis, and upon the adoption of a cost-effective standard that preserves investor choice, is business model neutral and avoids regulatory conflict or duplication.... Wells Fargo also notes that the Commission currently has access to an extensive body of existing research comparing standards of care for brokers, dealers and investment advisers."
8.  Retired Wells Fargo Adviser Claims Firm Violated Fiduciary Duty with 401(k) Plan
FinancialPlanning; free registration required Link to more items from this source
Nov. 30, 2016
"The plaintiff, John Meiners of St. Louis, is suing Wells and the fiduciaries for the defined-contribution retirement plan ... Meiners worked for Wells since 1984, most recently as a senior vice president ... The Wells Fargo retirement plan has 350,000 participants and $35 billion in assets, making it one of the largest retirement plans in the country, according to the lawsuit."
9.  Massachusetts Launches Investigation Into Wells Fargo Advisors Sales Practices
Financial Advisor Link to more items from this source
Mar. 8, 2018
"Wells Fargo itself disclosed in a recent regulatory filing that it is 'assessing whether there have been inappropriate referrals or recommendations, including with respect to rollovers for 401(k) plan participants, certain alternative investments, or referrals of brokerage customers to the company's investment and fiduciary services business' ... [The Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth] is seeking additional information to determine the scope of Wells Fargo's internal investigation as well as reasonable assurances that any Massachusetts investors affected by unsuitable recommendations will be made whole."
10.  Judge Denies Wells Fargo Bid to Dismiss ERISA Suit
Pensions & Investments Link to more items from this source
May 13, 2021
"U.S. District Court Judge Donovan Frank ... rejected every defense submitted ... on allegations ranging from charging excessive fees to offering poor-performing investments to engaging in prohibited transactions under ERISA." [Becker v. Wells Fargo & Co., No. 20-2016 (D. Minn. May 12, 2021)]
11.  Supreme Court Declines to Take Up Wells Fargo Stock-Drop Case
Pensions & Investments Link to more items from this source
May 3, 2021
"The plaintiffs argued that plan fiduciaries should have acted to protect participants ... [when] a sales-practices scandal that led to penalties against the company also caused the stock to fall ... A U.S. District Court ... dismissed the original complaint in September 2017. The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ... upheld the lower court's decision in in July 2020[.]" [Allen v. Wells Fargo & Co., No. 18-2781 (8th Cir. Jul. 27, 2020; cert. pet. denied May 3, 2021)]
12.  Wells Fargo Sells Retirement Plan Unit for $1.2 Billion
CNN Link to more items from this source
Apr. 9, 2019
"Principal Financial signed a $1.2 billion deal on Tuesday to acquire Wells Fargo's institutional retirement and trust business. The unit serves 7.5 million retirement customers across the United States, offering 401(k), pension, employee stock ownership and other services used by employers.... The Wells Fargo business had $827 billion in assets under administration at the end of the year."
13.  Principal Financial May Acquire Wells Fargo Retirement Business
Reuters; free registration may be required Link to more items from this source
Mar. 18, 2019
"Principal Financial Group Inc is [reported to be] in advanced talks to acquire Wells Fargo & Co's retirement plan services business, in a deal that could exceed $1 billion ... The bank's retirement plan services unit, which includes Wells' 401(k) savings accounts business, would expand a similar business of Principal Financial. If the negotiations are concluded successfully, a deal could be announced later this month[.]"
14.  Second Decision in Wells Fargo Stock Drop Case Parses 'Loyalty' and 'Prudence'
planadviser Link to more items from this source
July 26, 2018
"Given a second chance to argue their case, participants in a Wells Fargo retirement plan have again failed to meet the steep pleading standards set out by the influential Supreme Court decision known as Fifth Third vs. Dudenhoeffer." [In re: Wells Fargo ERISA 401(k) Litigation, No. 16-3405 (D. Minn. July 19, 2018)]
15.  Wells Fargo Improperly Kept a Pension Fund's Fee Rebates
The Wall Street Journal; subscription may be required Link to more items from this source
May 10, 2018
"The bank owned up to the problem in late April after the Chattanooga Fire & Police Pension Fund had spent months questioning Wells Fargo officials about fee practices in its institutional retirement and trust unit, according to the correspondence. The bank said in the correspondence that the improperly retained fee rebates resulted from 'a system set-up error.' "
16.  Wells Fargo's 401(k) Practices Probed by DOL
The Wall Street Journal; subscription may be required Link to more items from this source
Apr. 26, 2018
"The Labor Department is examining whether Wells Fargo & Co. has been pushing participants in low-cost corporate 401(k) plans to roll their holdings into more expensive individual retirement accounts at the bank ... Labor Department investigators also are interested in whether Wells Fargo's retirement-plan services unit pressed account holders to buy in-house funds, generating more revenue to the bank[.]"
17.  401(k) Participant Sues Wells Fargo Alleging Excessive Fees, Self-Dealing
PLANSPONSOR; free registration may be required Link to more items from this source
Nov. 24, 2017
"Throughout the complaint, the plaintiff alleges that the plan's fiduciaries' lack of a systematic and unbiased review process caused participants to pay an unnecessarily high expense ratio for both Wells Fargo proprietary investments and nonproprietary investments."
18.  Wells Fargo Gets Industry Support in Appeal Challenging Use of In-House Target Date Funds
Bloomberg BNA Link to more items from this source
Oct. 31, 2017
"The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other prominent industry groups are backing Wells Fargo & Co. in an appeal challenging the in-house target date funds in the company's 401(k) plan ... The groups are urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit to uphold a decision dismissing a challenge to the affiliated target date funds in the 401(k) plan for Wells Fargo employees."
19.  Wells Fargo Comment Letter to DOL on Proposed Delay of Fiduciary Rule (PDF)
Wells Fargo Link to more items from this source
Sept. 12, 2017
"A July 1, 2019 applicability date will provide the Department time to analyze the Rule and its effect on the market for retirement services, including the ways in which the Rule is limiting retirement investors' access to retirement investment information and financial advice. Furthermore, a delay will allow the Department to work with the [SEC] to address these harms on a coordinated basis. In particular, a delay provides the Department and the Commission with the opportunity to resolve the market dynamics already adversely affecting retirement investors by establishing a harmonized standard of conduct for retirement and non-retirement brokerage accounts."
20.  Wells Fargo Shows Its Claws
HRE Daily Link to more items from this source
Apr. 11, 2017
"Months after the revelations that Wells Fargo had engaged in highly questionable (some say illegal) practices, including creating fraudulent accounts, its board of directors has taken action to recoup some of the compensation from the bank's leaders during the time the nefarious schemes were ongoing."
   Next »

Your Search Options

  • If you have selected the Any Word radio button, above:

    Enter a single word, or as many words as you'd like (perhaps some synonyms). An item will match if it contains any one of the words.

    If you enter several words, the search engine will determine which words are the most important. So you can enter a question. Or you can paste an excerpt of several paragraphs from an article on another website to find similar news items on BenefitsLink.

  • If you have selected the All Words radio button, above:

    Enter several words. An item will match only if it contain every one of the words.

  • If you have selected the Advanced radio button, above:

    Certain words and punctuation take on special meanings—

    • Quotation marks can be used to require an exact phrase, such as
      "standard of review"
    • The words AND, OR and NOT become logic operators, which are especially powerful when used with parentheses, such as
      (vested OR vesting OR lifetime) AND (retiree OR retirement) AND (health OR healthcare) AND (benefits OR coverage)
© 2024 BenefitsLink.com, Inc.