"The proposed rule should be withdrawn immediately because it will make it more difficult for providers to share information with employers who need to make prudent decisions about their retirement plan," said Empower CEO Edmund F. Murphy III in a Dec. 21 news release. "This proposed rule is adding hurdles to plan formation, not removing them."
Specifically, the proposal could restrict activities such as sales conversations and plan sponsor investment conversations, according to the news release.
Empower is also concerned that the new proposal is "not materially different" from the department's previous rule broadening the definition of a fiduciary, which the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, New Orleans, struck down in 2018.
If the department were to finalize the new rule, "the regulated community will incur costs on implementing a rule … that has a reasonable chance of being overturned in court," Murphy wrote in a Dec. 20 comment letter.
In addition, "Empower notes that the new rule may alter some disclosure requirements in ways that are not productive to either providers or individuals and are written in a way that they are too vague to be useful," the news release said.
At a public hearing on the proposal Dec. 12, a representative from the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association also called for the proposal to be withdrawn, though opinions at the hearing varied.
Comments on the proposal are due Jan. 2.
