Legal

New York Citys public employee pension funds are using their financial muscle to try to force the companies they invest in, including Netflix and Wellpoint, to elect independent board chairmen.

The Pension Benefit Guarantee Corp. will pay out retirement benefits for more than 650 current and future retirees of Allied Systems Holdings Inc.

The U.S. Department of Labor has filed suit against San Franciscos Pacific Bank, alleging the bank, its CEO and three additional fiduciaries of its Employee Stock Ownership Plan mismanaged plan assets potentially resulting in $1.4 million in plan losses.

Many in the industry say they like the idea of helping plan participants better understand how their current retirement savings will translate into lifetime income upon retirement. But thats where agreement stops.

If plan sponsors cant explain fees to their employees, how do they expect to explain them when the DOL comes knocking.

The agency is considering a missing participants program for terminating individual account plans, which represent the majority of non-covered plans.