Associated Banc-Corp Accused by Workers of 401(k) Self-Dealing

Midwestern banking franchise Associated Banc-Corp improperly profits from its employees’ 401(k) plan by filling the plan with its own “unpopular and poorly performing” financial products, two plan participants allege in a complaint filed in Wisconsin federal court.

The lawsuit, filed Wednesday on behalf of a proposed class of up to 7,000 people, accuses Associated Banc-Corp of filling its $690 million 401(k) plan with affiliated investment products that earned fees for the bank, even though those funds were poor performers that had been rejected by other large retirement plans. The bank also forced plan participants to pay excessive administrative fees to ...