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Conflicts of interest typically exist when someone in a position of trust, such as a pension consultant, has competing professional or personal issues. Such competing interests can make it difficult for pension plan fiduciaries and others to fulfill their duties impartially. The proliferation of consulting work and the complexity of business arrangements among investment advisors, plan consultants, and others have increased the likelihood of conflicts of interests for both defined benefit (DB) plans, and defined contribution (DC) plans. This is a report on: (1) the effects undisclosed conflicts of interest may have on the financial performance of DB plans; and (2) the vulnerabilities that conflicts of interest may pose for DC plan participants. Illus.
Private Pensions: Conflicts of Interest Can Affect Defined Benefit and Defined Contribution Plans
To protect workers' retirement security, the requesters asked GAO to assess: 1) What is known about conflicts of interest affecting private sector defined benefit (DB) plans? 2) What procedures does PBGC have to identify and recover losses attributable to conflicts? 3) What procedures does Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) have to detect conflicts among service providers and fiduciaries for PBGC-trusteed plans? 4) To what extent do EBSA, PBGC, and SEC coordinate their activities to investigate conflicts? GAO interviewed experts, including agency officials, attorneys, financial industry representatives, and academics, and GAO reviewed PBGC documentation and EBSA enforcement materials. GAO analyzed Labor, SEC, PBGC, and private sector data, including data on pensions, pension consultants, and rates of return data, and conducted statistical and econometric analyses.
An analysis of available data on pension consultants and plans revealed a statistical association between inadequate disclosure and lower investment returns for ongoing plans, suggesting the possible adverse financial effect of such nondisclosure. The econometric analysis detected lower annual rates of return for those ongoing plans associated with consultants that had failed to disclose significant conflicts of interest. These lower rates ranged from a statistically significant 1.2-1.3 % points over the 2000-04 period. The avg. returns for ongoing plans that used consultants who failed to disclose significant conflicts was 3.2-3.3% for the period. This finding suggests the importance of detecting the presence of conflicts among pension plan consultants. Illus.
Employer-sponsored defined benefit pension plans (DBPP) face unprecedented challenges in the midst of significant changes in our nation's retirement landscape. Many DBPP & the fed. agency that insures them, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. (PBGC), have accumulated large & growing deficits that threaten their survival. Meanwhile, the percentage of Amer. workers covered by DBPP has been declining for 30 years, reflecting a movement toward defined contribution plans (e.g., 401(k) plans). To address these issues, a diverse group of knowledgeable individuals was convened -- incl. gov't. officials, researchers, accounting experts, actuaries, plan sponsor & employee group rep., & members of the investment community. Charts & tables.
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is an independent agency that works for Congress. The GAO watches over Congress, and investigates how the federal government spends taxpayers dollars. The Comptroller General of the United States is the leader of the GAO, and is appointed to a 15-year term by the U.S. President. The GAO wants to support Congress, while at the same time doing right by the citizens of the United States. They audit, investigate, perform analyses, issue legal decisions and report anything that the government is doing. This is one of their reports.