Products August 5, 2015

Millennium Trust Updates Web Capabilities

A new website offers remote access to rollover tools and resources from Millennium Trust.
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The new website of Millennium Trust Co., at www.mtrustcompany.com, allows clients to remotely access agreements, tools and resources from the firm’s line of retirement account rollover solutions.

Through the enhanced website, clients can now “complete the automatic rollover process in three easy steps,” the company says. Clients can also download and read about current issues affecting the automatic rollover industry, while sharing important information with colleagues and business partners.

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Speaking with PLANSPONSOR, Terry Dunne, Millennium Trust senior vice president and managing director of the rollover solutions group, said retirement plans today “are not created for the benefit of a former employee. They’re really designed for the benefit of a current employee, so they have the right incentives to join a company and stay.”

He suggested that employers are eager for more rollover support from companies such as Millennium Trust (see “Is Auto-Portability the Next Big Thing?”). The main reason is that, when employees leave a firm but stay in the plan, they continue to cost the company administrative fees. They also remain a fiduciary concern for the plan sponsor.

“If you have 100 participants, and 20% to 25% of your employees are leaving in a given year, within four or five years, you’ve turned over the whole population and might well end up with more and more participants that are incurring costs,” Dunne observed.

He noted that Millennium provides bilingual, direct phone support. The phone support is critical, he feels, since most people do not like to use automated phone menus when making tough decisions about executing a rollover.

Compliance August 5, 2015

DOL Publishes Fiduciary Rule Hearing Schedule

The Department of Labor has released its agenda for next week’s public hearings to discuss the department’s proposed fiduciary rule changes.
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The schedule of testimony, which lists the panels of experts who will speak, is posted on the department’s website.

Hearings on the controversial rulemaking will take place over nearly four full working days—August 10 through 13—at the Department of Labor (DOL) offices in Washington, D.C.

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With the hearings, the DOL is bringing to a head literally years of heated public debate and discussion, much of it written into formal comment letters. Many retirement industry providers have joined mostly Republican lawmakers in asking Labor Secretary Thomas Perez to put on the breaks and reconsider the proposed rules. Others, especially independent fiduciary advisers, have supported the DOL’s effort, taking a cooler view of the dangers of a strengthened fiduciary standard.

During the multiple days of testimony, DOL officials will hear from a wide range of advisers, recordkeepers and legal firms. Some of the names mentioned in the agenda include Groom Law Group Chartered, Plan Sponsor Council of America, Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, Insured Retirement Institute, Voya Financial, Drinker Biddle & Reath, Pension Rights Center, Northern Trust Co., Russell Investments, American Retirement Association, CFA Institute, Committee of Annuity Insurers, Empower Retirement, Ameriprise Financial, American Benefits Council and Financial Engines.

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