The American Bankers Association filed a comment letter today responding to a Department of Labor request for information on a series of questions concerning Employee Retirement Income Security Act reporting and disclosure requirements as amended or directed by “SECURE 2.0,” the recently passed federal retirement legislation.
The letter focuses on three questions of interest to ABA members: whether and how DOL should address performance benchmarks for asset allocation funds; whether and how defined contribution plan fee disclosure requirements should be revised; and whether ERISA plan administrators, as a condition for relying on electronic delivery safe harbor regulation, should be required to monitor retail retirement investors in order to determine whether such investors have actually accessed or downloaded an electronically furnished disclosure.
Because existing disclosure and reporting regimes are comprehensive, sufficient and effective, no revisions or additions are necessary to the department’s regulatory requirements governing benchmark requirements and fee disclosures, ABA said. The letter also noted that plan administrators should not be required to monitor the online activity of retail retirement investors to rely on the electronic delivery safe harbor regulation. ABA cited intrusive regulatory overreach and significant privacy concerns in monitoring individuals’ internet access and usage, together with substantially raised compliance costs and reduced investment returns by installing and maintaining technology to track participants’ internet activity.
