On April 23, 2024, the White House announced that the Department of Labor (“DOL”) has finalized its Retirement Security Rule, also known as the “Fiduciary Rule.” The new rule extends the current definition of “investment advice fiduciary” under ERISA to include advisers when they “give investment advice for a fee to retirement plan participants, individual retirement account owners and others.” The rule and related exemptions will be effective on September 23, 2024, with a phase-in period for many of the exemptions and reporting requirements of one year until September of 2025.
On October 31, 2023, the Department of Labor proposed a new rule that would extend the current definition of “investment advice fiduciary” to include advisers when they “give investment advice for a fee to retirement plan participants, individual retirement account owners and others,” according to the DOL’s Press Release.
The Department of Labor (DOL) voluntarily dismissed its appeal of the district court decision that struck down the DOL’s fiduciary reinterpretation of fiduciary status for advisers making rollover recommendations to retirement investors.
On February 13, 2023, the United States District Court’s Middle District of Florida (“the court”) struck down the expanded definition of investment-advice fiduciary put forward by the Department of Labor (DOL) in its Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) publication from April 2021.
On August 3, 2017, the DOL released a conflict of interest FAQs to provide additional clarification around the Fiduciary Rule. In the FAQ, the DOL provides guidance. The DOL will likely provide additional guidance during this transition period leading up to January 1, 2018.