Enron aftermath: DC providers may get a break on limits of fiduciary liability.(News)

Pensions & Investments, July, 2003

Byline: Arleen Jacobius Houston - The Labor Department may be softening its position on the fiduciary liability of defined contribution plan providers. Noticeably absent as a defendant in the Labor Department's late June suit against Enron Corp. and more than 20 company executives was its record keeper and trustee, Northern Trust Co., Chicago.

"We looked at a number of potential defendants, including Northern Trust, and the evidence was not there to support an allegation of breach of fiduciary duty,'' said Ann Combs, assistant secretary in the Employee Benefits Security Administration, Washington. Northern Trust was directed trustee and record keeper, and as such took direction from the named fiduciaries, Ms. Combs said. Directed trustees "have an...

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