Legal

Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee teamed with insurance agent groups Tuesday to attack U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) efforts to apply a uniform fiduciary standard to investment product sales.

Rhode Island lawmakers waded into state government's most dizzying fiscal problem Monday ahead of a special legislative session dedicated to addressing the rising costs of public pensions.

The American Benefits Council spent $243,809 in the second quarter to lobby the federal government on retirement, pension, financial reform, and budget issues related to health and retirement entitlement programs, according to a recent disclosure report.

Some Social Security advocates fear that President Barack Obama's desire to cut taxes supporting the program will undermine its vaunted stature as a self-financing pension system that provides checks to retirees based on contributions they made while working.

Employee benefit plans want the right to waive a proposed rule that would require swap counterparties to give benefit plans extra scrutiny and advice.

An economic advisor to former President George W. Bush unveiled a proposal on Friday to reform the current retirement savings system by replacing the current deduction for contributions to retirement savings accounts with a flat-rate refundable credit that would be deposited directly into a savers account.