On July 27, 2022, the U.S. Department of Labor (the “DOL”) issued notice of a proposed amendment (the “Proposed Amendment”) to Prohibited Transaction Class Exemption 84-14 (which is commonly referred to as the “QPAM Exemption”) that would (as described in more detail below) significantly amend certain of the exemption’s conditions, including:
The U.S. Department of Labor’s (the “DOL”) new “fiduciary rule” package, issued on June 29, 2020, and published in the Federal Register on July 7, 2020, has three important components:
On June 3, 2020, the Department of Labor (the “DOL”) published an Information Letter confirming that investment options under a defined contribution plan (e.g., a 401(k) or 403(b) plan) may include a limited allocation to private equity. Notably, the Letter does not discuss direct investment in private equity funds (for example, by adding a PE fund to the plan’s investment lineup). Rather, the Letter discusses including private equity as a small allocation within a diversified designated investment option such as a balanced fund or a target date fund (a footnote in the Letter suggests no more than 15%); and the Letter notes that direct investment in private equity would “present distinct legal and operational issues.”
On April 14, 2015, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued its highly anticipated re-proposed regulation addressing when a person providing investment advice with respect to an employee benefit plan or individual retirement account (IRA) is considered to be a fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and the Internal Revenue Code (Code). As discussed below, the new proposal (available here) offers a general definition of fiduciary investment advice that would expand the group of people who would be considered fiduciaries. The proposal contains a number of carve-outs for particular types of communications that the DOL does not consider to be fiduciary in nature. The DOL also has proposed a new set of prohibited transaction exemptions and certain amendments to existing class exemptions applicable to fiduciaries that would allow certain broker-dealers, insurance agents and others who provide investment advice to continue to engage in certain transactions and to receive common forms of compensation that would otherwise be prohibited as conflicts of interest.