While the legal question of whether participant data qualifies as plan assets that are protected by ERISA is far from settled, The Groom Law Group's Walsh said sponsors and service providers should be aware of the emerging privacy questions around plan data. (Photo: Shutterstock)
A settlement proposal awaiting approval from a federal court includes language that would prohibit the recordkeeper of Vanderbilt University's 403(b) retirement plan from using participants' personal data to cross-sell investments.
In August of 2016, employees of Vanderbilt filed suit against fiduciaries to the University's $3.4 billion plan under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, alleging it paid high administrative costs to multiple recordkeepers, and packed its investment menu with duplicative, expensive options and proprietary mutual funds and annuities.
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Nick Thornton
Nick Thornton is a financial writer covering retirement and health care issues for BenefitsPRO and ALM Media. He greatly enjoys learning from the vast minds in the legal, academic, advisory and money management communities when covering the retirement space. He's also written on international marketing trends, financial institution risk management, defense and energy issues, the restaurant industry in New York City, surfing, cigars, rum, travel, and fishing. When not writing, he's pushing into some land or water.
