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Borzi: Labor Dept. still considering target date regs

While there’s no specific project to speak of, the assistant secretary says guidance on life cycle funds will be issued by year-end

By Jessica Toonkel Marquez

December 9, 2009 12:05 pm ET

The Labor Department is still considering regulating target date funds, according to Phyllis C. Borzi, assistant secretary of labor for the Employee Benefits Security Administration.

“While we do not have any specific project in our regulatory agenda, we have not ruled out possible regulatory action at this time,” Ms. Borzi wrote in an online question-and-answer session through the department’s website this morning.

Target date funds have been a hot-button issue for the Labor Department and Congress. Specifically, regulators and members of Congress raised concerns after it was discovered that many 2010 target-date funds had large exposures to stocks during the market meltdown of 2008, causing near-retirees and retirees to lose much of their savings.

The department still plans to issue guidance on target date funds by the end of the year, Ms. Borzi said. “We're working on checklists for fiduciaries and participants so that they can better understand what their choices are,” Ms. Borzi wrote. She didn’t provide a specific publication date for the guidance.

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