The U.S. Department of Labor today announced that its Employee Benefits Security Administration has published an agenda for its upcoming online hearing on the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, “Retirement Security Rule: Definition of an Investment Advice Fiduciary,” and related proposed prohibited transaction exemption amendments.
The online hearing will be held Dec. 12 and Dec. 13, starting each day at 9 a.m. EST.
If adopted as proposed, the rule would define who is an investment advice fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 as a result of giving investment advice to retirement plan participants and individual retirement account owners, among others. The proposed amendments to the prohibited transaction exemptions seek to make the exemption conditions more uniform and to protect retirement investors’ savings.
The proposals seek to protect investors saving for retirement by requiring trusted advice providers to adhere to high standards of care and loyalty when making investment recommendations and to avoid recommendations that favor their financial interests at the expense of the investors.