U.S. Department of Labor and Definition of Fiduciary
As the U.S. Department of Labor ("DOL") prepares to expand the definition of fiduciary, at the same time that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is doing likewise, the financial industry is girding for some potentialy massive changes.
In response to the DOL's request for comments about an expanded definition of fiduciary as relates to retirement schemes, I warned that the law of unintended consequences could push knowledgeable professionals out of the marketplace. If fears that the liability costs will outweigh the benefits of working with plan sponsors, perhaps materially so, it will be difficult to attract the talent that is so badly needed to assist with implementing pension governance policies and procedures.
I further wrote that a hefty dose of transparency could do wonders for differentiating "good" fiduciaries from others. This problem is not new. In fact, I wrote in 2006 that trying to identify who serves as a member of a plan's investment committee is like searching for hidden treasure. Click to read my 2006 post about pension fiduciary disclosure.
Click to read my January 20, 2011 letter to the U.S. Department of Labor about their proposed expansion of who should serve as a fiduciary.
Click to read the other letters submitted to the U.S. Department of Labor about this important issue of who properly counts as a fiduciary. Letters I read suggest the need for a universal education standard. As is the case in other countries, the United States could well end up with a mandate for independent fiduciaries to serve on investment committees, after having been properly vetted, licensed or otherwise credentialed.
