The Department of Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration will host a Sept. 13 webcast to ensure that 401(k) plan executives and participants understand the fees they pay to service providers.
The event marks the culmination of a major push by EBSA to regulate 401(k) fee disclosure. Notices from plan providers to sponsors were due July 1, and sponsors had until Aug. 30 to notify plan participants.
The new fee disclosures “give them the information they need to make better decisions,” said Michael L. Davis, deputy assistant secretary of labor for the EBSA, in an interview.
Mr. Davis said the webcast will be a basic tutorial on fee information required in the disclosures. “We want to make sure that people understand what those fees are.”
He said the information “also allows people to see how their funds line up, on an apples-to-apples basis.”
The new rules will also shed more light on indirect fees paid by plan sponsors, he said. “This regulation is going to level the playing field for everybody.”
