Department of Labor statement: On November 13, 2020, the Department of Labor (Department) published a final rule on “Financial Factors in Selecting Plan Investments,” 85 Fed. Reg. 72846 (November 13, 2020), which adopted amendments to the “Investment Duties” regulation under Title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). The amendments generally…
Category: Department of Labor
VEA Comment to DOL/EBSA on Proxy Voting
October 2, 2020 Jeanne Klinefelter Wilson Acting Assistant Secretary Employee Benefits Security Administration United States Department of Labor 200 Constitution Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20210 RE: RIN 1210-AB91 Dear Acting Assistant Secretary Wilson, In the long, dismaying history of regulatory capture, when agencies set up to provide oversight instead issue rules entrenching and subsidizing corporate insiders,…
Kurt Schacht: The Labor Department Is Tearing Down a Landmark of Investor Protection
Kurt N. Schacht, head of policy for the CFA Institute and former chair of the SEC Investor Advisory Committee. writes in Barron’s: Corporate governance and shareholder rights have seldom witnessed an assault on investor protection like the current federal government’s onslaught. Whether weakened rules on broker accountability, rules designed to eliminate shareholder proposals, or those…
DOL proposes rule to narrow scope of ERISA fiduciaries’ proxy voting
DOL/EBSA has followed up its outrageously unsupportable proposed rule on ESG investing (more than 95 percent of the more than 7000 comments strongly opposed) with an even more outrageously unsupportable proposed rule rolling back more than 30 years of settled law that all aspects of share ownership — the right to trade, to sue, and…
How 2 Labor Dept. Rules Can Undermine Your Retirement Plans – The New York Times
two recent moves by the Labor Department imply that private equity funds ought to be more welcome in 401(k) accounts all over America, while so-called E.S.G. mutual funds — those that focus on environmental, sustainability and governance factors — should be treated more cautiously than they are now. These Labor Department regulations are curious in…
Overwhelming Opposition to Proposed Regulation Limiting the Use of ESG in Retirement Plans | Morningstar
John Hale has an excellent analysis of the comments on DOL/EBSA’s proposed rule on ESG, with a run-down of the consistent themes: no evidence to support the need for a rule and lots of evidence against. Of 229 comments from investment professionals, 94% were opposed to the proposed rule, only 2% were in favor, and…
Supplemental Comment to EBSA/DOL on ESG
August 17, 2020 Assistant Secretary Preston Rutledge EBSA Department of Labor200 Constitution Ave, NW, Ste S-2524 Washington DC 20210 RE: RIN 1210-AB95 NPRM: Financial Factors in Selecting Plan Investment Dear Assistant Secretary Rutledge, This is a supplement to our earlier comment to reflect recent developments and respond to a claim made in one comment. While we disagree…
David Sirota on the DOL/EBSA ESG Proposal: A New Trump Rule Could Help Big Oil Crush The Climate Movement
This emblematic two-part story of climate deception starts with a new rule from Donald Trump’s Labor Department. Coming at a moment when fossil fuel companies and their investors are facing huge losses, the Trump rule aims to make it more difficult for pension and 401k administrators to shift workers’ savings out of fossil fuel assets…
Morningstar Comment to DOL/EBSA on ESG
Morningstar’s comment to DOL/EBSA urges the Department to require consideration of ESG factors in pension investments, not discourage it. Simply stated, the Labor Department’s proposed rule is out of step with the best practices that asset managers and financial advisors use to integrate ESG considerations into their investment processes and selections. Indeed, as we outlined in…
Teamsters Comment on DOL/EBSA ESG Proposal
The Teamsters comment on the DOL/EBSA is attached in full below. An excerpt: The Proposal offers a solution in search of a problem. For almost 30 years ESBA has issued a series of bulletins providing guidance to fiduciaries regarding their obligations when it comes to selecting investment options for plan participants. That guidance has emphasized…
