Cite re: obligation to provide account statements

[Christine Roberts]

Is it safe to say that ERISA does not impose express obligation to provide individual participant account statements on an annual or more frequent basis but that doing so is necessary to obtain limited fiduciary liability pursuant to ERISA Section 404©?

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[MWeddell]

While 404© requires certain information to be provided to participants, your typical account statement doesn't contain the 404© disclosures. Hence, 404© has nothing to do with it.

Statements at least annually are sometimes distributed because participants have an ERISA right to request a statement of their benefits. Often, statements don't meet the technical requirements however.

There's no other obligation to distribute statements. 401(k) plans developed the convention to distribute statements quarterly but it's not a legal obligation.

[KJohnson]

I think the ERISA Advisory Council to DOL has come out with a recommendation for more frequent statements, but DOL has not acted on this.