The Labor Department’s proposed amendments to Prohibited Transaction Exemption 84-14, known as the Qualified Professional Asset Manager exemption, continue to rely on flawed assumptions in the agency’s estimate of the costs and burdens for the changes in question, ABA, the Investment Company Institute and three trade groups said today in a joint letter to the Office of Management and Budget, which oversees federal agencies.
The current proposal contains numerous provisions that, if adopted, would impede routine plan transactions, limit access to valuable investment opportunities and ultimately raise costs for retirement plans and their participants, the groups said. Despite such significant changes, the Labor Department’s cost-benefit analysis of the proposal failed to address or even consider real costs, they added. The groups are asking the OMB to ensure the analysis is in compliance with the law and that it addresses concerns raised by stakeholders.
