DOL Finalized Participant Advice Exemption

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has finalized the rules implementing the statutory exemption for the provision of investment advice to participants of individual account plans. In large part, in its final rule, DOL followed the structure of the proposal. As finalized, advice must be provided under one of two arrangements called ¯ Eligible Investment Advice Arrangements. These arrangements provide relief under a fee leveling approach or a computer model approach. This memorandum focuses on the major changes made by DOL to the exemption.