Employee Benefits Security Administration June 2023 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This document gives notice of a proposed individual exemption from certain prohibited transaction restrictions of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). The exemption would permit the trustee of a plan funded by the AWB HealthChoice Employee Benefits Trust to hire entities affiliated with AWB to provide services to the plan for a fee, subject to conditions designed to safeguard the interests of the plan and its participants and beneficiaries.

The Labor Department previously issued several temporary individual prohibited transaction exemptions (PTEs) that allow certain Qualified Professional Asset Managers (QPAMs) related to UBS and Credit Suisse Group AG (CSAG) (the UBS QPAMs, CS Affiliated QPAMs, and the CS Related QPAMs, as further defined below) to continue to rely on the exemptive relief provided by Prohibited Transaction Class Exemption (PTE) 84-14, notwithstanding five judgments of convictions involving entities within the UBS and CSAG corporate umbrellas, as described below (the Convictions). The most recent individual exemptions are PTE 2020-01 (for UBS) and PTE 2022-01 (for CSAG). Those individual exemptions will no longer be available following the upcoming merger between CSAG and UBS (the Merger), solely as a result of the Merger. This exemption allows the UBS QPAMs, CS Affiliated QPAMs, and the CS Related QPAMs to continue to rely on PTE 84-14 as of the closing date of the Merger, if certain conditions are met. This individual exemption is necessary to preserve the ability of the QPAMs to engage in the transactions permitted by PTE 84-14, which would be lost solely due to the impending merger of UBS and Credit Suisse (and not because of a new conviction for either UBS or Credit Suisse or their affiliates, or due to any other disqualifying reason). This exemption will be effective for one year beginning on the closing date of the Merger. The limited duration of this exemption reflects the lack of information UBS and Credit Suisse Asset Management, LLC (CSAM) submitted to the Department regarding the effects the Merger will have on Covered Plans with assets managed by the UBS QPAMs and CS Affiliated and Related QPAMs.