New pension rules ease fiduciary liability. (Department of Labor) (Points & Viewpoints) (Column)

National Underwriter Property & Casualty-Risk & Benefits Management, December, 1992 by Jaffe, Alfred I.

After the Executive Life debacle--and several others that followed soon after--an understandable panic set in among many holders of private pension plans. Particularly affected were those whose fixed income annuities were invested in guaranteed investment contracts, or GICs. I don't presume to prejudge any of the numerous lawsuits still pending against plan administrators whose judgment led them to invest fiduciary funds in what proved to be shaky companies and shaky contracts--to say the least.

However, it's obvious that the manner in which many of them invested the funds entrusted to them put the planholders at considerable risk, and consequently may have put themselves at considerable risk. Fiduciary liability insurance--never an easy line to underwrite,...

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