[Guidance Overview]
DOL's Interim Final ERISA Regulation on Service Provider Disclosure Obligations (PDF)
12 pages. Excerpt: "Effective in one year . . . the new rules will require certain service providers to employee benefit plans to disclose detailed information to independent plan fiduciaries regarding their services and the direct and indirect compensation they receive in connection with providing services to the plans, or otherwise lose the protection of an exemption from the ERISA prohibited transaction rules."
(Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP)

[Guidance Overview]
DOL's New ERISA Disclosure Requirements for Retirement Plan Service Providers (PDF)
8 pages. Excerpt: "This final regulation is the second of four regulatory projects DOL has initiated primarily to deal with indirect compensation in the employee benefit market."
(Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP)

[Guidance Overview]
Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act: Impact on Plans and Plan Service Providers (PDF)
10 pages. Excerpt: "[The Act will establish the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection] within the Federal Reserve System. . . . The key issue for the benefit plan community has been whether the Bureau will have jurisdiction to regulate services to retirement and other employee benefit plans."
(Groom Law Group)

IRS Retirement Plan Determination Letter Fees to Increase in 2011
Excerpt: "IRS user fees for most retirement plan determination letter applications will increase on Feb. 1, 2011, just after the close of EGTRRA Cycle E."
(Mercer LLC)

[Guidance Overview]
Fiduciaries Breached Duty of Prudence by Investing in Retail Share Classes
Excerpt: "The case is Tibble v. Edison International, decided by the District Court for the Central District of California earlier this month. Although district court opinions have little precedential value, retirement plan committees and other plan fiduciaries would be wise to heed the lessons of this case."
(Nixon Peabody LLP)

Financial Reform Postpones a Key Stable-Value Decision
Excerpt: "The financial reform law asks federal agencies to study whether stable-value funds should be classified as swaps. How they are classified could influence whether they fall under the new law's regulatory provisions."
(Workforce Management; free registration required)

Using Behavioral Finance to Help Employees Achieve Their Retirement Goals (PDF)
19 pages. Excerpt: "A number of challenges contribute to [the] retirement saving deficit, but progress has been made with new programs and tools that use insights gained from behavioral science and psychology about plan participants' behaviors."
(Standard Retirement Services, Inc.)

Using the Safe Harbor 401(k) Plan Top-Heavy Exemption
Excerpt: "[This Technical Update] discusses the financial effect, benefits and limitations of the top-heavy exemption."
(SunGard Relius)

DOL Mandated Fee Disclosures for Retirement Plan Service Providers
Excerpt: "Consultants, recordkeepers, investment advisers and others will have to disclose direct and indirect compensation. Fiduciaries to some investment vehicles also will have new disclosure obligations. The rule, intended to help plan fiduciaries evaluate contracts, will apply to new and existing contracts starting July 16, 2011."
(Mercer LLC)

[Opinion]
The Right Reason for Saving Social Security
Excerpt: "The system won't 'go belly-up,' as some scare-mongers allege, but it will require dramatic adjustment either in benefits, revenues or both."
(The Brookings Institution)

[Opinion]
The 401(k) Has Been a Failure and Should Be Replaced with New Guaranteed Return Accounts
Excerpt: "All the tax-free contributions going into 401(k)s, Keoghs, and other retirement schemes reduce federal tax receipts by $193 billion a year. And almost 80 percent of the tax breaks go to the top 20 percent of taxpayers. So let's scale back the tax breaks. Instead, we can use the money to help everyone sock away 5 percent of their pay in safe retirement accounts that would serve as a universal supplement to Social Security."
(BusinessWeek)

[Guidance Overview]
New Corporate Governance, Executive Compensation and Proxy Voting Provisions Apply to All Public Companies
Excerpt: "[M]any of the Financial Reform Act's provisions require rulemaking either by the SEC, the national securities exchanges or both, and some provisions include deadlines for the promulgation of SEC rules. The table . . . summarizes the actions needed to effect each of the provisions . . ., the deadline (if any) for those actions to be taken and any available exemptions."
(Perkins Coie LLP)

[Guidance Overview]
Financial Reform Bill and New Corporate Governance Requirements (PDF)
5 pages. Excerpt: "'Say on Pay' has been applicable for some time in Europe and for certain TARP companies in the United States, and may have a significant effect on disclosure practice and executive compensation structures."
(Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP)

[Guidance Overview]
IRS Continues to Rule Favorably on VEBA Domestic Partner Benefits (PDF)
Excerpt: "A VEBA may provide an otherwise permissible 'life benefit' (including a monthly survivorship benefit), payable by reason of the death of an employee, to a designated beneficiary who is a domestic partner without further limitation."
(Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP)

Evaluating Your Third-Party Administrator: Are You Getting What You're Paying For?
Nationwide on August 9, 2010
presented by Lorman Education Services

Is Your Health Care Plan Grandfathered Under the Health Care Reform?
Nationwide on August 18, 2010
presented by Lorman Education Services

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Administration Announces New Affordable Care Act Measures to Protect Consumers and Put Patients Back in Charge of Their Care
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services

RPAG Inks System Deal With OneAmerica
Retirement Plan Advisory Group

Plan Sponsors Honored for Improving Plans for Employees
Prudential Retirement

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Corporate Counsel - Compensation and Benefits
for Coca-Cola Enterprises
in GA

Client Consultant Manager, Core/Large Market
for Prudential
in IA

Defined Contribution Account Manager
for Nova 401(k) Associates
in TX

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