Labor Agency Cagey on Retirement Exemption Change Under Review

The White House is reviewing a US Labor Department rule that would amend an exemption some of the world’s biggest financial firms rely on to manage American retirement assets.

Major investment banks such as JPMorgan Chase & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., and UBS Group AG are free to manage US pensions and 401(k) plans largely because of their regulated status as qualified professional asset managers, or QPAMs.

That legal designation is a badge of honor in the financial services industry that protects companies sponsoring retirement benefits from conflicted transactions or investments. Now, the Labor Department seems poised ...