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The Segal Company Acquires Aon Consulting's U.S. Multiemployer Defined Benefit Business

Excerpt: The transaction involves about 60 multiemployer plans for which Aon Consulting had been providing services.

Aon Consulting's 2009 Benefits and Talent Survey

Excerpt: The vast majority of survey respondents are not changing their retirement programs in response to the economic downturn. Most defined contribution (DC) plan sponsors have not made changes to their benefits, with 90% reporting no change in 2009 contribution levels compared to last year. More surprisingly, 92% of survey respondents who sponsor defined benefit (DB) plans said that they are not making any changes to their defined benefit plans.

Aon Consulting's 2009 Health Care Reform Survey

Excerpt: The majority of respondents were benefits managers, compensation and benefit leaders, and senior HR representatives - the people responsible for their employers' health insurance policies and programs. Respondents represented a wide range of industries and were geographically dispersed. They also hailed from organizations with less than 50 employees to those with more than 10,000 employees, and all points in between.

Aon Hewitt Investment Consulting, Lowe's 401(k) Plan Latest Target of ERISA Lawsuit

"According to the text of the complaint, defendants placed $1 billion of the Lowe's 401(k) plan's assets into the [Hewitt Growth Fund]. At least some of the money, plaintiffs allege, was inappropriately reallocated from eight existing funds in the plan, 'which were generally performing well,' when the Hewitt Growth Fund replaced these options on the investment menu.

Aon Defeats ERISA Class Action at Trial

"Plaintiffs alleged that Aon and Lowe's breached their fiduciary duties of loyalty and prudence under ERISA to the Plan by directing substantial Plan assets to Aon's proprietary investment products.... In rejecting Plaintiffs' argument that Aon breached its fiduciary duty because its proprietary fund did not generate as much growth as other investment options, Judge Bell noted that Plaintiffs' 'hindsight attacks' on Aon's alleged failure to consider alternative investments based on historical results were 'unpersuasive'[.] ' [Reetz v. Lowe's Companies, Inc.; Administrative Committee of Lowe"s Companies, Inc. and Aon Hewitt Investment Consulting, Inc., No. 18-075 (W.D.N.C. Oct. 12, 2021)]

Fourth Circuit Affirms Aon Hewitt Did Not Breach ERISA Fiduciary Duties in Cross-Selling Services and Managing Lowe's 401(k) Plan

"[T]he court found that Aon was not acting as an ERISA fiduciary when it engaged in cross-selling of additional services at the time that it was recommending that Lowe's restructure its retirement plan.... Second, the court found that Aon did not violate its ERISA fiduciary duty of loyalty by recommending that the plan adopt a streamlined investment menu which happened to play to its interest." [Reetz v. Aon Hewitt Investment Consulting Inc., No. 21-2267 (4th Cir., July 17, 2023)]

Text of Federal District Court Opinion: No Breach of Fiduciary Duty by Aon in Lowe's Class Action Suit (PDF)

120 pages. "[T]he Court finds that Aon did not breach its fiduciary duty as an investment advisor to the Plan in proposing and encouraging Lowe's to change the Plan's investment structure and menu of investment options nor did it violate ERISA in its efforts to 'cross-sell' its delegated fiduciary services, which Lowe's -- a large, sophisticated corporation -- independently decided to engage. Also, the Court concludes that although the Aon Growth Fund that Aon selected as the Plan's delegated fiduciary investment manager did not generate as much investment gains as other investment options that, in hindsight, would have fared better, it did not breach its fiduciary duty to the Plan in selecting and maintaining the Aon Growth Fund as the primary actively managed 'equity' investment option in the Plan." [Reetz v. Lowe's Companies, Inc.; Administrative Committee of Lowe's Companies, Inc. and Aon Hewitt Investment Consulting, Inc., No. 18-075 (W.D.N.C. Oct. 12, 2021)]

Fourth Circuit Affirms Aon's Trial Victory in Investment Suit

"the opinion is noteworthy for delegated fiduciaries -- and the plan sponsors and fiduciaries that engage them -- because the Fourth Circuit declined to hold that a plan service provider that is a fiduciary retains that fiduciary status when cross-selling a new product or service to the plan. Other circuits had held that initial contract negotiation and sales efforts were not fiduciary conduct, but applying those conclusions to an existing fiduciary relationship is novel." [Reetz v. Aon Hewitt Investment Consulting Inc., No. 21-2267 (4th Cir., July 17, 2023)]

Aon Hewitt, Alight Win Lawsuit Alleging Pension Risk Transfer Failures

"Among other claims, the lawsuit alleged that Aon Hewitt didn't perform all the communications services that it was contracted to perform, resulting in only 67% of eligible plan participants electing a lump-sum distribution instead of a projected 80% of participants." [Foundation Resolution Corp. v. Aon Hewitt Investment Consulting, Inc., No. 18-458 (M.D. Fla. Apr. 22, 2021)]

Magistrate Judge Says Aon, Alight Can't Evade Lawsuit over Pension Risk Transfer Services

"The firms allegedly provided a comprehensive set of pension plan termination services to a hospital system client that, according to plaintiffs, resulted in suboptimal outcomes for the employer and its employees." [Foundation Resolution Corp. v. Aon Hewitt Investment Consulting, Inc., No. 18-458 (M.D. Fla. magist. rep. Mar. 10, 2021)]