Employee Benefits Security Administration August 23, 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This document contains a notice of pendency before the Department of Labor (the Department) of a proposed amendment to PTE 84- 14. The exemption permits various parties that are related to employee benefit plans to engage in transactions involving plan assets if, among other conditions, the assets are managed by ``qualified professional asset managers'' (QPAMs), which are independent of the parties in interest and which meet specified financial standards. Additional exemptive relief is provided for employers to furnish limited amounts of goods and services to a managed fund in the ordinary course of business. Limited relief is also provided for leases of office or commercial space between managed funds and QPAMs or contributing employers. Finally, relief is provided for transactions involving places of public accommodation owned by a managed fund. Currently, PTE 84-14 requires the QPAM managing the assets of a plan in an investment fund to be independent of, and unrelated to, the employer sponsoring such plan. However, as described in the notice of final amendment to PTE 84-14 contained in this issue of the Federal Register, limited retroactive and transitional relief is provided for financial service entities to act as QPAMS for their own plans. If this proposed amendment is granted, a QPAM may prospectively manage an investment fund containing the assets of its own plan or the plan of an affiliate, to the extent the conditions of the proposal are met. The proposed amendment would affect participants and beneficiaries of employee benefit plans, the sponsoring employers of such plans, and other persons engaging in the described transactions.