The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Financial Industry Regulation Association(FINRA), federal banking regulators, and state securities, banking and insurance regulators routinely investigate financial services companies.
However, to the surprise of many of those firms, the Department of Labor (DOL) may also investigate them. Indeed, the number of investigations by the DOL of financial firms has steadily increased over the years.
In the PLANADVISER article linked below, Groom principal David Kaleda provides a quick overview of what the DOL’s enforcement authority is, what might bring DOL examiners to a firm’s door, and what to expect if a firm receives a letter from the Department. Firms will find that a DOL investigation is quite different from those conducted by other regulators.
