DOL clarifies investment advice exemptions

The Department of Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration released its first Field Assistance Bulletin of the year, which provides guidance to field investigators regarding an exemption for investment advice in the Pension Protection Act. The bulletin clarifies that past guidance relating to investment advice on which the employee benefits community can rely. It also addresses standards for selecting and monitoring a fiduciary investment adviser, both under the investment advice exemption of the Pension protection Act and more generally. Furthermore, the bulletin addresses the level-fee requirement of the exemption and whether affiliates and employers of persons who serve as fiduciary advisers are subject to the conditions of the exemption.