Retirement Plan Investment Changes: Meeting Strict ERISA Requirements Amid Increasing DOL Audits and Lawsuits Complying With Procedural Requirements for Investment Selection, Documentation and Notice Today’s faculty features: 1pm Eastern | 12pm Central | 11am Mountain | 10am Pacific The audio portion of the conference may be accessed via the telephone or by using your computer's speakers. Please refer to the instructions emailed to registrants for additional information. If you have any questions, please contact Customer Service at 1-800-926-7926 ext. 10. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2015 Presenting a live 90-minute webinar with interactive Q&A Mark E. Bokert, Partner, Davis & Gilbert, New York Jeffrey M. Holdvogt, Partner, McDermott Will & Emery, Chicago
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Retirement Plan Investment Changes: Meeting Strict ERISA Requirements Amid Increasing DOL Audits and Lawsuits Complying With Procedural Requirements for Investment Selection, Documentation and Notice
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Documentation Requirements for Investment Selection and
Monitoring
Participant Notice Requirements
– Blackout Period Rules
– Fee Disclosures
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Monitoring Investments –
Procedural Requirements
Plan assets must be managed with the care, skill, prudence
and diligence of a prudent person acting in a like capacity and familiar with such matters under the circumstances then prevailing.
Remember your fiduciary duties under ERISA:
– Duty of Loyalty (the “Exclusive Benefit Rule”)
– Duty of Care (the “Prudent Man Rule”)
– Duty to Diversify Plan Investments
– Duty to Follow Plan Documents
– Duty to Avoid Prohibited Transactions
– Duty With Regard to Co-Fiduciaries
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Monitoring Investments –
Procedural Requirements
Best practice is to use a written Investment Policy. The Investment Policy should have sufficient detail so that someone looking back years later (e.g., the DOL or plaintiff's counsel) could understand how a decision was made.
– Include clear standards for how investments are chosen, how they are measured and what will trigger placing an investment or manager on a watch list.
– Roles should be spelled out clearly so that members of the Investment Committee understand what is required of them.
Investment Policy should be reviewed annually and modified as necessary. Common changes might include the addition of an asset class or a change in the appropriate benchmark for a fund or manager.
Minutes should be kept each time Investment Committee conducts review.
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Monitoring Investments –
Procedural Requirements
Utilize an independent third party investment expert, unless the plan sponsor has someone on staff that has the time, the tools and the expertise to perform accurate and independent analysis.
– Avoid reliance on recordkeeper or vendor with inherent conflict of interest because they are reporting on proprietary funds, sub-advised funds and even nonproprietary funds where long-term business relationships and revenue agreements may affect the investment decision process.
Best practice: quarterly reporting and continuous monitoring.
– Quarterly reporting is usually sufficient since retirement plans are long-term investments and the focus should be on trends.
– Continuous monitoring ensures that if something material happens between reporting periods (e.g., a regulatory problem for the manager) that requires immediate attention, the Committee will be apprised of it and can take appropriate action.
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Monitoring Investments –
Procedural Requirements
Reporting should tie directly to your investment policy - not just
provide fund performance information as is so often the case.
– The investment policy is the road map to achieving the objectives of the
plan.
– Ideally every Committee action should directly reference back to the
investment policy and monitoring should tie to specific metrics in the
policy. This will demonstrate a clear and coherent process.
Fiduciaries should review a broad range of quantitative as well as
qualitative measures for each fund or manager. In addition,
fiduciaries should analyze how the complete investment menu fits
together to accomplish the purposes of the plan.
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Monitoring Investments –
Procedural Requirements
Funds that don't meet the monitoring criteria should be replaced.
– The decision of how much time to allow an under-performing fund to improve its performance is not fixed and should take into account a number of factors.
– In extreme case failure to remove underperforming fund may demonstrate the fiduciary's unwillingness to perform the duties imposed by ERISA.
Tibble v. Edison International - 2015 Supreme Court case
– Plan’s investment committee selected a variety of funds for the investment of Plan assets. The funds selected by the investment committee were retail-class funds, which charged higher fees than the comparable institutional-class funds available in the retail market. Plan participants sued, alleging that lower-cost mutual funds were available and should have been selected for the Plan’s investment portfolio.
– ERISA provides a six-year period within which a participant or beneficiary may sue based on allegations of a breach of ERISA fiduciary duties. The district court dismissed the case and the U.S. Court for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the dismissal on the basis that the funds were selected more than six years earlier and were therefore barred by ERISA statute of limitations.
– Plaintiffs asked that the Supreme Court determine whether ERISA’s six-year limitations period begins on the date that the investment committee initially selected the higher-cost mutual fund options for the Plan’s investment portfolio or whether the on-going offering of such funds constituted a “continuing” fiduciary breach, thereby extending the period.
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Monitoring Investments –
Procedural Requirements
Best Practices in Summary:
– Meet regularly
– Keep good meeting minutes
– Consult the Investment Policy and other plan documents
– Stay informed
– Read the committee materials
– Ask questions of your advisors, review advisors regularly
– Understand the plan
– Understand when you must act in best interests of plan participants
– Make consistent decisions
– Follow up on questions, concerns, and proposed actions raised in meetings
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Documentation Requirements for Investment
Selection and Monitoring
Fiduciary actions should be documented in order to show procedural prudence for investment selection.
– Courts and government agencies will look for documentation to examine whether a breach of fiduciary duty has occurred.
– Documentation provides fiduciary “cover.”
Documentation should make authority to act clear:
– Board delegations
– Committee By-Laws or Charter
– Investment Policy Statement
Documentation should show how decision was made:
– Committee Minutes
– Committee Reports
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Documentation Requirements – Board
Delegations
Board Delegations delegate power and authority to manage and
control the investment of assets held by the plan to the Investment
Committee or Investment fiduciary.
– Alternative: Plan document may provide that a committee or fiduciary
shall have the power and authority to manage and control the
investment of assets held under the plan.
Delegations establish Investment Committee as named fiduciary
responsible for the management and control of the investments,
appoint members of the Committee, summarize the rights, duties
and obligations of the Committee, and establish rules of procedure
to govern Committee actions.
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Documentation Requirements – Committee
By-Laws or Charter
Committee By-Laws or Charter
– Reflects delegation of authority from Board resolutions.
– Acts as Committee’s road map.
The purposes of the By-Laws or Charter are:
– Summarize the rights, duties and obligations of the Committee.
– Establish rules of procedure to govern Committee actions.
– Recognize that certain powers and duties may be delegated to others.
Committee typically maintains and amends By-Laws/Charter,
subject to authority from Board resolutions.
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Documentation Requirements – Investment
Policy Statement
Investment Policy Statement – the formal document for the investment of plan assets. Statement summarizes the underlying philosophy and processes for the selection, monitoring and evaluation of the investment of plan assets.
Investment Policy Statement is used as the basis for future investment performance measurement and evaluation.
Investment Policy Statement should be revised and modified as appropriate on a periodic basis to reflect such factors as changes in the investment environment, manager performance, participant objectives and the Committee’s expectations.
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Documentation Requirements – Investment
Policy Statement (Defined Benefit Plan)
Investment Policy Statement includes a set of investment
objectives, guidelines and performance standards for the
investment of plan assets. For defined benefit plans this includes:
– Explanation of Plan structure and responsibilities involved of all parties.
– Clear understanding for all involved parties of the investment goals and
objectives for the plan assets.
– Guidance and limitations to Investment Managers regarding the
investment of plan assets.
– Provides a basis for evaluating investment results.
– Establishes the relevant investment horizon for which plan assets will be
managed.
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Documentation Requirements – Investment
Policy Statement (Defined Contribution Plan)
Investment Policy Statement includes a set of investment objectives, guidelines and performance standards for the investment of plan assets. For 401(k)/defined contribution plans this includes:
– The types of investment options offered under the plan.
– The choice of specific investment options under the plan.
– The ongoing supervision of plan assets, including the Committee’s responsibility for:
• Review of the investment options and investment characteristics of the investment options offered.
• Monitoring the actual investment options offered, including the fees and expenses incurred in connection with these investment vehicles.
• Decisions regarding the addition, replacement or elimination of the actual investment options offered.
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Documentation Requirements – Committee
Minutes
Committee Minutes - demonstrate that a fiduciary committee has fulfilled its responsibilities under ERISA.
– Helpful for internal audience - Well drafted minutes allow a committee to keep track of what it has done and make it more likely that decisions will be made in a consistent and rational manner.
– Helpful for external audience - Minutes document the process used in making a decision. The fiduciary must be able to demonstrate the process to have a strong defense against a breach of fiduciary duty claim.
– DOL audit investigation likely to include a document request for the minutes of fiduciary committee meetings. The ability to produce well organized minutes sends a message that the employer is compliance-oriented and aware of fiduciary responsibilities.
– Attorneys representing potential plaintiffs may request meeting minutes (and subpoena them if they are not produced voluntarily) and will seek to strengthen their case based on what is and is not in the minutes. If a breach of fiduciary duty claim does arise, the success or failure of a defense against the claim may turn on the availability and quality of meeting minutes.
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Documentation Requirements – Committee
Minutes
Committee Minutes – Best Practices
Typically taken by someone who is reasonably knowledgeable about the topics
that regularly come up at meetings, familiar with the terminology and concepts that
are likely to be used during discussions, will not be called upon to make extensive
presentations at meetings, and can attend meetings regularly.
Examples: senior human resources or finance staff member, a consultant who works
closely with the committee, or legal counsel.
Take minutes (or the notes that will be turned into minutes) contemporaneously, as
the meeting occurs. Minutes prepared long after the meeting and based on
recollections are valid as a record of the proceedings, but may be less accurate,
and less compelling from an evidentiary standpoint.
Avoid statements that could look bad in retrospect (e.g., Committee determined
that investment X was underperforming but decided not to take action for no
reason.)
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Documentation Requirements – Committee
Minutes
Committee Minutes – Best Practices
Create a record, not a transcript. Include enough detail to create a meaningful record without allowing the detail to overwhelm the larger themes discussed and important decisions made at the meeting. Include:
Date, time, and place of the meeting;
Committee members in attendance;
Invited guests, including consultants, legal counsel, and committee staff;
Matters discussed at the meeting; and
Any decisions made or actions taken at the meeting.
Approve and finalize minutes within a reasonable period after the meeting to which the minutes relate. A new meeting may begin with the approval of the minutes of the prior meeting (which should be recorded in the minutes of the current meeting), unless the minutes were approved earlier.
Include as attachments any reports or written materials presented at meeting
Maintain record of committee minutes.
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Documentation Requirements – Committee
Reports
The record of each Committee meeting should also include
any written materials that were distributed or presented to the
committee for discussion at the meeting. These might
include:
– Issue summaries,
– Slide decks,
– Investment performance reports.
Attach copies of reports and maintain with record of minutes.
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Participant Notice Requirements - Blackout
Period Rules
ERISA requires the administrator of a defined contribution plan to provide participants with at least 30 days’ advance written notice of a blackout period.
– “Blackout period” means a period of three or more consecutive business days during which the normal ability of participants and beneficiaries to direct or diversify assets credited to their accounts, to obtain plan loans, or to obtain distributions from the plan is temporarily suspended or restricted.
– Certain situations are not treated as blackout periods, including:
• suspensions or restrictions that result from the application of federal or state securities laws;
• suspensions or restrictions that apply to particular individuals based on qualified domestic relations orders (QDROs); and
• regularly scheduled suspensions or restrictions that are incorporated into the plan and are disclosed to participants and beneficiaries through the summary plan description, summaries of material modifications, or other documents that describe the plan’s investment alternatives.
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Participant Notice Requirements - Blackout
Period Rules
Blackout Period Notice – Plan administrator must provide affected participants and beneficiaries with a written notice at least 30 days in advance of a blackout period. The blackout notice must include the following:
– the reasons for the blackout period;
– an identification of the rights affected by the blackout period;
– the expected beginning date and length of the blackout period;
– in the case of a blackout period that affects plan investments, a statement that participants and beneficiaries “should evaluate the appropriateness of their current investment decisions in light of their inability to direct or diversify assets credited to their accounts during the blackout period;” and
– other information the Secretary of Labor may require by regulation.
The notice must be written in a manner understandable by the average plan participant. If the beginning date or length of the blackout period is changed after the notice is provided, participants and beneficiaries must be notified of the change as soon as reasonably practicable.
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Participant Notice Requirements - Blackout
Period Rules
Exceptions to the minimum 30-day notice requirement available only in limited circumstances, such as determination that providing 30 days’ advance notice would violate ERISA’s fiduciary standards or inability to provide 30 days’ advance notice is due to unforeseeable events or circumstances beyond the plan administrator’s control. In these cases, the plan administrator must provide the blackout notice to participants and beneficiaries as soon as reasonably possible.
The notice may be provided in electronic form if it is reasonably accessible to the recipients in accordance with electronic disclosure rules.
A plan administrator who fails to provide a blackout notice to participants and beneficiaries in accordance with ERISA may be fined up to $100 a day from the date of the plan administrator’s failure or refusal to provide the notice.
Pension Protection Act of 2006 amended ERISA § 404(c) to provide fiduciaries relief from liability during blackout periods if they authorized and implemented the blackout period consistent with the requirements of ERISA.
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Participant Notice Requirements – Fee
Disclosures
DOL regulations require initial and annual disclosures of information related to investment fees.
– Two major categories of information: “plan-related information” and “investment-related information.”
– Goal is to provide participants with the necessary information to make informed investment decisions.
Plan administrator must provide a participant with both plan-related and investment-related information on or before the date the participant can first direct his investments under the plan.
Thereafter, the plan administrator must provide participants with the required disclosures at least annually.
Any changes to plan-related information must be communicated to participants at least 30 days (but no more than 90 days) before the effective date of the change. If the plan administrator is not aware of the change 30 days before the effective date of the change, the notice must be provided as soon as reasonably practicable.
Most plan administrators rely on their 401(k) vendor to prepare the participant disclosures for them. However, providing the disclosures is the fiduciary responsibility of plan administrators.
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Summary of What We’ve Covered
Monitoring Investments – Procedural Requirements
Documentation Requirements for Investment Selection and