"Reviewing the investment policy statement (IPS) was the most prevalent fiduciary action taken in 2025, consistent with 2024.... Plan governance and process returned as the top area of focus for DC plan sponsors in 2025 ... In 2025, relatively few respondents reported they currently include or are considering alternative investments in their DC plans' TDFs.... About 7 in 10 plan sponsors calculated their recordkeeping fees within the past 12 months.... 78% calculated investment management fees within the past 12 months ... All respondents offered some type of advisory service to participants." MORE >>
"[1] Supreme Court will consider 'meaningful benchmark' standard for ERISA imprudent-investment claims ... [2] Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals vacates district court decision certifying class ... [3] Third Circuit Court of Appeals affirms summary judgment, agreeing that defendants engaged in a prudent process ... [4] Recent developments in pension risk transfer cases ... [5] District court grants motion to dismiss claims challenging health plans' prescription drug costs with prejudice."
"A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit that accused Fidelity of letting certain 'retail class' investors in its Fidelity Government Money Market Fund lose millions of dollars a year to high expenses when they're eligible for lower-cost 'premium' shares. The complaint alleged Fidelity and fund officials let some customers holding the money market mutual fund's retail share class (SPAXX) 'needlessly incur higher expenses' even when eligible for its lower-expense but otherwise identical premium share class (FZCXX)." [Davis v. Fidelity Management & Research Co LLC, No. 24-8142 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 25, 2026)] MORE >>
"There are few, if any, other industries in which costs have declined as precipitously as in defined contribution.... As a result of the hyperfocus on fees, record keeper service has deteriorated, and most wealth advisors and their broker/dealers stayed away from a high liability, low margin business.... But the upside of this race to the bottom has been the focus on the participant ... The DC platform has become the hub for providing advice on all aspects of a participant's financial well-being, including selecting the right benefits. " MORE >>
"[M]ost scenarios also show reductions in total plan costs and advisor compensation. The data also underscores a persistent reality: smaller plans continue to pay significantly more than their larger counterparts, and cost variation across providers remains substantial." MORE >>
"[1] Participants in larger plans may benefit from lower fees than those in smaller plans.... [2] Collective Investment Trusts now hold 42% of DC plan assets as sponsors seek lower costs.... [3] Despite over $6.3 trillion in DC plan outflows since 2015, this dynamic environment creates new opportunities for innovation and participant engagement. [4] DB plans ... account for a quarter of retirement distributions and support nearly 30 million people." MORE >>
"The suit also states that the defendant allowed BANA and its affiliate Merrill Lynch to act under the plan as trustee, custodian, recordkeeper, and/or investment manager, 'which presents conflicts of interest that implicate prohibited transactions under ERISA.' ... [The complaint also alleges] 'that Defendant has also allowed BANA to use its affiliate's role as recordkeeper to obtain information for use in its role as investment advisor.' " [Ventura v. Lithia Motors, Inc., No. 26-1786 (C.D. Calif. complaint filed Feb. 19, 2026)] MORE >>
"If the Supreme Court determines that all that is necessary for plaintiffs to plead is that fees are too high or performance is subpar when reviewed against a general index, 401(k) plan fiduciaries will have far greater exposure to being sued because more claims will survive a motion to dismiss." [Anderson v. Intel Corp. Inv. Policy Comm., No. 22-16268 (9th Cir. May 22, 2025; cert. pet. granted Jan 16, 2026, No. 25-498)] MORE >>
"Last year saw a near-record 155 fiduciary class lawsuits filed by plaintiffs' firms alleging violations of [ERISA] and breaches of fiduciary duty.... Defined contribution plans remained the most frequent target in these cases, named in 63% of last year's ERISA class action litigation. As in prior years, most lawsuits alleged excessive recordkeeping and/or investment fees.... Five of the last six years saw lawsuit totals greater than the overall annual average of 60 cases per year for the past decade." MORE >>
"Given the turbulent dynamic and the increasingly costly world of retirement plan litigation, what can advisors and plan sponsors do to make sure to better guarantee they don't end up on the receiving end of a Schlichter-inspired suit?" MORE >>
"Some 14% of defined contribution plans surveyed in December ... reported that they had eliminated their managed account programs since late 2023.... Nearly 20% of the 165 lawsuits filed between 2019 and late 2022 alleging [ERISA] violations included a claim over managed account programs ... Of the suits including such claims, 42% alleged that the managed account service fees were excessive, while 31% claimed the managed accounts underperformed compared to other plan options." MORE >>
"Part 2 examines the newest fronts in ERISA litigation, including the surge in forfeiture and voluntary benefits lawsuits ... Also addressed is the growing role of documentation, engaged oversight, and defensible process as courts continue to emphasize prudence over outcomes. This installment also looks at the evolving regulatory environment ... and what that could mean for plan advisors and sponsors. Ultimately, Part 2 focuses on practical steps fiduciaries can take now to strengthen governance, tighten documentation, and reduce litigation exposure." MORE >>
"[The Cunningham] opinion flagged a handful of tactics lower courts could use to weed out flawed cases, including ordering plaintiffs to address affirmative defenses early on, assessing attorneys' fees and sanctions, and carefully scrutinizing whether cases should be dismissed for lack of actionable injuries. Trial court judges have begun to follow the high court's advice, providing a potential roadmap for defendants' attorneys juggling the hundreds of would-be class suits filed under ERISA over the past several years." MORE >>
"The complaint, originally filed in March 2020, alleges the defendants failed to negotiate comparable contractual terms for the 401(k) plan's guaranteed investment fund and the company's defined benefit plan. Consequently, the 401(k) plan's GIF paid a significantly lower interest rate than the identical investment in the pension plan." [Sweeney v. Nationwide Mutual Ins. Co., No. 20-1569 (S.D. Ohio Feb. 9, 2026)] MORE >>
"This summary focuses on the responsibilities and role of ERISA fiduciaries in managing plan investments.... [1] Evaluate and update the investment structure ... [2] Draft and periodically review the Investment Policy Statement (IPS) ... [3] 404(c) and QDIA oversight ... [4] Review and monitor investment manager performance ... [5] Monitor and benchmark plan fees ... [6] Managed accounts evaluation and monitoring ... [7] Oversee required employee communications ... [8] Review overall plan utilization ... [9] Review defined contribution trends and overall plan effectiveness." MORE >>
"In FY 2025, EBSA closed 878 civil investigations. Of those, 556 investigations (63 percent) produced monetary results for plans or other corrective action, for a total of $714.4 million recovered.... In FY 2025, [EBSA] obtained 297 non-monetary civil corrections, including: [1] removing 15 fiduciaries, [2] barring 24 individuals from serving as fiduciaries, [3] appointing 18 fiduciaries, [4] improving missing participant procedures for 49 plans, and [5] implementing 61 global corrections across multiple ERISA-covered health plans." MORE >>
"During December, the estimated cost to transfer retiree pension risk to an insurer in a competitive bidding process inched up 20 basis points, from 100.1% to 100.3% of a plan's accounting liabilities (accumulated benefit obligation, or ABO). That means the estimated retiree PRT cost is now 100.3% of a plan's ABO." MORE >>
"There is no statute that requires a 'meaningful benchmark.' ERISA's prudence standard focuses on process, not performance relative to a counterfactual benchmark. Benchmarks were a judicial convenience, not a substantive legal test." MORE >>
"the court will consider the 'meaningful benchmark' requirement that lower courts have applied when evaluating claims that retirement plan investments were mismanaged. Under that standard, plaintiffs must identify comparable alternative investments to show that plan fiduciaries acted imprudently. The Intel plaintiffs argue that the benchmark test has been applied inconsistently across federal circuits and sets too high a bar for workers seeking relief." [Anderson v. Intel Corp. Inv. Policy Comm., No. 22-16268 (9th Cir. May 22, 2025; cert. pet. granted Jan 16, 2026, No. 25-498)] MORE >>
"[T]he government asserted that the Sixth Circuit's ruling is incorrect and identifies two principal errors. The first error is the Sixth Circuit's conclusion that a plaintiff need not allege a meaningful benchmark to state a plausible claim of imprudence based on relative underperformance.... The second error asserted is the Sixth Circuit's acceptance that the plaintiffs below had pled a meaningful benchmark when asserting that the S&P Target Date Fund (TDF) was an appropriate comparator to the challenged funds." [Johnson v. Parker-Hannifin Corp., No. 24-3014 (6th Cir. Nov. 20, 2024; cert. pet filed Mar. 26, 2025, No. 24-1030; DOL amicus brief filed Dec. 9, 2025)\]MORE >>
"The decision reinforces that ERISA plaintiffs must allege specific, like‑for‑like comparisons to survive a motion to dismiss.... For plan sponsors, the ruling underscores that well‑documented, routine recordkeeping arrangements and monitoring processes can help defeat speculative ERISA fee litigation at the pleading stage." [Fleming v. Kellogg, No. 22-0593 (W.D. Mich. Dec. 8, 2025)] MORE >>
"Many small-plan sponsors are being nudged toward [target date funds] that slot in the recordkeeper's stable-value fund, a move that reduces administrative costs. The resulting lower fees benefit participants, but when cost-sharing arrangements start to shape a target-date manager's allocation decisions, they introduce real trade-offs. [This article looks at] what's driving the trend, how widespread it's become, and what those trade-offs mean for investors." MORE >>
"The class action lawsuit, dismissed in 2010, did not deter the NEA, but raised awareness of potential conflicts of interest when unions endorse costly financial/retirement products for their members." MORE >>
"According to the complaint, Fidelity's recordkeeping services to the ... plan created a conflict of interest because its affiliate, Fidelity Management Trust Co., served as trustee of the plan's assets, while Fidelity's separate affiliate, Strategic Advisors, served as investment advisers to the plan. The complaint alleges that Fidelity charged participants between $39 and $50 in annual administrative costs for the 2019 through 2023 plan years ... [while] comparable plans using Fidelity had costs of about $3 to $31 per participant[.]" [Clark v. Centene Corp., No. 25-09743 (C.D. Calif. complaint filed Nov. 12, 2025)] MORE >>
"As the default investment option in most retirement plans, TDFs typically hold the majority of plan assets -- yet many employers fail to evaluate them regularly, even as market conditions, participant demographics and fee structures continue to evolve. A TDF that was appropriate four years ago may now be underperforming, restructured or overpriced. In fact, average expense ratios have dropped significantly, especially for index-based and collective investment trust versions.1" MORE >>
