Podcast Center
Video Center
Webcasts
Resource Center
Events
February 21, 2008 at 10:53 AM
Proposed regulations to enhance disclosures to beneficiaries of retirement plans have drawn criticism from agents, brokers and the plans themselves as burdensome.
The regulations are also potentially overwhelming to those they seek to protect, critics argue.
The Department of Labor is considering several plans under pressure from Congress and consumer advocates.
One proposal would require that contracts between certain service providers and plans provide for specific and detailed information.
Under another proposal, all services furnished to a plan and all compensation, direct and indirect, to be received by the service provider would have to be disclosed in writing. The proposed rules would also require the disclosure of possible conflicts of interest of the service provider that may affect the performance of plan services.
Groups representing agents and brokers argued that the proposed rules would be overly broad and called on the department to revise them.
The Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America argued that the proposals rely too heavily on a “one-size-fits-all disclosure paradigm,” which it argued would create an “unprecedented” burden on providers.
In a comment letter by Robert Rusbuldt, president and chief executive officer, the IIABA argued that “there is no basis or justification for imposing such a broad administrative burden on an industry that is already heavily regulated, especially when the ramifications for failing to adhere to the strict letter of the regulation would be severe.”
