Concerns Raised About PBGC Plan Sponsor Advocate’s Role

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation’s board of directors should consider adopting a policy to clarify how to prevent conflicts of interest by the agency’s in-house liaison to plan participants and sponsors, the PBGC inspector general said.

The official title for the liaison is participant and plan sponsor advocate, a position that was created in a 2012 law, the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21^st Century Act (MAP-21). The law that established the position is ambiguous as to the nature of the official’s responsibilities, the inspector general, Robert A. Westbrooks, said in a July 20 memorandum to the ...