Defined Benefit Pensions: Conflicts of Interest Involving High Risk or Terminated Plans Pose Enforcement Challenges

United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 2007-06-28 monographic deposited born digital 67 p. GA 1.13:GAO-07-703 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-07-703 P0b002ee180386e47 f:d07703 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-28 GAOREPORTS-GAO-07-703 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-GAO-07-703 GAO-07-703 Conflict of interests Consultants Employee retirement plans Interagency relations Losses Pensions Policy evaluation Private sector Retirement Retirement benefits Retirement income Strategic planning Fiduciaries Other Written Product A71627 Defined Benefit Pensions: Conflicts of Interest Involving High Risk or Terminated Plans Pose Enforcement Challenges 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 the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (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 the Securities and Exchange Commission (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. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-07-703/html/GAOREPORTS-GAO-07-703.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-07-703/pdf/GAOREPORTS-GAO-07-703.pdf GAO-07-703 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-07-703 Other Written Product GAO-07-703; Defined Benefit Pensions: Conflicts of Interest Involving High Risk or Terminated Plans Pose Enforcement Challenges; Conflict of interests Consultants Employee retirement plans Interagency relations Losses Pensions Policy evaluation Private sector Retirement Retirement benefits Retirement income Strategic planning Fiduciaries