Fiduciary Benefits

The ABA Retirement Funds Program Fiduciary Solution

Unlike most pension and 401(k) plans, the trustee of the Program, which is a large corporate trust company, has discretionary authority and control over the investment of the Program’s assets.

The only fiduciary responsibility retained by an employer adopting the Program is the selection of the Program and the continued use of the Program.
The ABA Retirement Funds, an affiliate of the American Bar Association, monitors services provided to your Retirement Plan, including the Trustee, Northern Trust.
Because the trustee is responsible for the investment of the Program's assets, each employer that adopts the Program successfully transfers to Northern Trust all the fiduciary responsibility the employer might otherwise have for making decisions about how to invest Program assets. Under the Program, Northern Trust, and not the adopting employer, is responsible for ensuring that Program investments comply with the fiduciary duty requirements of ERISA.

The Program’s Fiduciary Protection is More Comprehensive than Other Retirement Plan Platforms

In the case of the Program, because the corporate trustee (and not another fiduciary) has discretionary authority over the investment of Program assets, neither an additional 3(21) fiduciary nor a 3(38) investment manager is needed to provide fiduciary protection to the Program’s adopting employers. This fiduciary protection is already provided by the Program’s corporate trustee.

Fiduciary Responsibilities

Take a Deeper Look at Your Fiduciary Responsibilities

Through a unique design, the ABA Retirement Funds Program provides employers with the most comprehensive protection from fiduciary liability under ERISA. Other providers of retirement plan platforms may claim that their platforms are the best at limiting liability under ERISA because the providers of these platforms make available fiduciaries under Section 3(21) of ERISA or investment managers as defined in Section 3(38) of ERISA. Because of the way the Program is structured, these additional fiduciaries are not necessary to protect employers from fiduciary liability under ERISA.