Retirement Exemption Plan Is ‘Wedge’ Between Small, Big Players

Smaller businesses that manage retirement assets could be forced out of the market under a US Labor Department proposal to tighten an obscure legal exemption essential to managing those accounts in the US.

Qualified asset managers, or QPAMs, shield financial firms and the retirement plans that use them from falling victim to the seemingly limitless number of prohibited transactions workplace benefits law places on plans and the funds they can invest in or firms with which they can do business. Companies involved in any foreign or domestic felony crimes could lose their status as qualified professional asset managers under a ...