Life Insurers to Meet With White House Office on DOL Fiduciary Rule

News March 27, 2024 at 02:54 PM
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The White House

The American Council of Life Insurers is making a new effort to shape the U.S. Department of Labor's fiduciary definition proposals.

The life insurer group plans to meet with regulation reviewers at the federal Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs on April 9, according to a record on the Office of Management and Budget website.

The meeting was requested by Jim Szostek, an ACLI vice president who works on retirement security issues. The ACLI last met with OIRA over the fiduciary proposal effort in October.

What it means: The ACLI will have a chance to push for fiduciary proposal changes that could make the effects less painful.

OIRA: OIRA is a division of the Office of Management and Budget, part of the Executive Office of the President, that helps OMB review federal agencies' proposed regulations.

OIRA analysts estimate the economic benefits and costs of proposals, looking at the paperwork burden that might be associated with individuals' and organizations' efforts to comply with the regulations.

DOL fiduciary definition proposals: The Labor Department has recently revived efforts to  create an "investment advice fiduciary" definition. The definition would apply a fiduciary standard to advice on rollovers of assets from 401(k) plans, individual retirement accounts and other retirement savings arrangements that benefit from special federal tax treatment.

The proposal could require annuity professionals who help with rollovers to put the clients' interests first.

Annuity professionals could have to conduct detailed product and strategy comparisons, including comparisons with decisions to leave clients' assets where they are.

The comparisons would have to provide detailed information about the possible costs, benefits and risks of each approach.

Financial professionals worry that the new standard could make them vulnerable to lawsuits decades in the future if the performance of recommended strategies turned out to be weaker than the performance of other strategies.

The proposal could have an especially big effect on sellers of fixed annuities, because fixed annuity sales are now regulated by state insurance commissioners, not by federal agencies.

OIRA fiduciary proposal meetings: OIRA has also scheduled meetings with AARP, the American Bankers Association, the Financial Services Institute, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and several law firms.

The last meeting now visible on the OMB tracking site is scheduled for April 10.

The White House. Credit: Matthew/ Adobe Stock

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