Nossaman’s Pensions, Benefits & Investments Briefings podcast (formerly Public Pensions & Investments Briefings) explores the legal issues that impact governmental, private and non-profit pension systems and their boards in the United States. Episodes cover a wide variety of topics, from the changing investment climate to litigation impacting pension plans nationally, as well as emerging fiduciary, insurance, employment, benefits, tax compliance and intellectual property issues.
Reflections on the Demise of the SEC’s Private Fund Adviser Rule – LP and GP Perspectives
In this episode, Nossaman's Yuliya Oryol and guests Chris Hayes & Jason Mulvihill provide LP and GP perspectives on the SEC’s Private Fund Adviser Rule. Both speakers were deeply involved with the proposed Rule – one worked with ILPA on behalf of the LP community to lobby the SEC to adopt the Rule in order to help institutional investors in their negotiations with GPs while the other worked with the AIC on behalf of the GP community and was instrumental in expressing GP objections and opposition to the Rule and developing the successful litigation to challenge to the Rule.
After extensive advocacy by the Institutional Limited Partners Association (ILPA) and others on behalf of the Limited Partner (LP) community in support of stronger regulation of private funds, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted the Private Fund Adviser Rule (Rule) on August 23, 2023. The Rule consisted of five new rules: the Private Fund Audit Rule, the Quarterly Statements Rule, the Restricted Activities Rule, the Adviser-Led Secondaries Rule, and the Preferential Treatment Rule, plus two rule amendments addressing annual compliance documentation and retentions of books and records. However, on June 5, 2024, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit unanimously vacated the Rule. The Fifth Circuit held that the SEC exceeded its statutory rulemaking authority under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 in adopting the Rule. The SEC could have asked for a rehearing en banc in the Fifth Circuit or it could have appealed the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court. Instead, the SEC determined not to do anything further to ensure survival of the Rule. As a result, the Rule is dead – at least for now and the foreseeable future.
2 Aug 2023
Cybersecurity Risk Management for Pension Plan Administrators: Tips for Staying Ahead of the Hackers
With recent well-publicized data breaches impacting pension systems and their retirees nationally, as well as increased Department of Labor scrutiny surrounding cybersecurity policies and procedures implemented by ERISA employee benefit plan fiduciaries upon audit, the topic of cybersecurity risk management is even more top of mind for pension plan administrators.In this episode of Pensions, Benefits & Investments Briefings, Ashley Dunning and Michelle McCarthy welcome Peter Dewar, President of Linea Secure, and Amy Timmons, Senior Vice President of Administration & Technology Consulting at Segal, to discuss pension systems’ cybersecurity risk management and the impacts of artificial intelligence (AI), social engineering and “whaling,” as well as best practices and lessons learned with respect to pension systems’ cybersecurity risk management.
8 Jun 2023
Risk Management Lessons for Directors and Officers from Recent Bank Failures
The first half of 2023 has seen three bank failures, Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and First Republic Bank. In 2008–the last time multiple FDIC-insured banks failed–the collapse of the economy and massive bank reform followed.
In this episode of Pensions, Benefits & Investments Briefings, Yuliya Oryol and Patrick Richard discuss risk management lessons for directors and officers to be drawn from these recent events. Were the challenges facing these banks unique, or are the risks more prevalent?
16 Mar 2023
Secure 2.0 Brings Big Changes to Retirement Plans
Congress recently passed the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022. Building on the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019, SECURE 2.0 attempts to expand retirement plan coverage and increase retirement savings opportunities for United States workers. In this episode of Pensions, Benefits & Investments Briefings, Michelle McCarthy and Ashley Dunning discuss the key provisions of SECURE 2.0 most likely to impact 401(k) and 403(b) plans sponsored by large private-sector employers and also touch upon a few of the provisions that will impact 401(a) plans administered by governmental retirement systems.
15 Feb 2023
What Public Retirement Systems Need to Know Now About Changes to Actuarial Standard of Practice No. 4
On February 15, 2023, changes to Actuarial Standard of Practice (ASOP) No. 4 will be effective, and defined benefit plans will need to comply with these new rules in all actuarial funding valuations with measurement dates after the effective date. In the latest episode of Public Pensions & Investments Briefings, Ashley Dunning (https://www.nossaman.com/professionals-adunning) welcomes Graham Schmidt, an actuary with Cheiron, and Todd Tauzer, an actuary with Segal, who explain three significant changes arising from the new ASOP and discuss some of the implications of those changes.
30 Jan 2023
Outliers and Oddities in Alternative Investment Documents
Institutional investors and other limited partners are often told they must accept certain terms and provisions in alternative investment fund documents because such terms “are market.” Who is responsible for creating these market terms and what can investors do to prevent undesirable deal terms from becoming the market standard? In this episode of Public Pensions & Investments Briefings, Courtney Krause discusses unusual provisions in alternative fund documents, including limited partnership agreements, side letters and subscription documents. Courtney explores how market terms are created, provides examples of non-standard terms, and discusses how investors can work to keep these seemingly one-off provisions from becoming market standard in the future.
20 Oct 2021
Managing IP, Data and Privacy Risks of Pension Administration Systems
Ransomware and other cybersecurity attacks have made national headlines during the past 12 months, and public pension systems are as susceptible to these attacks as any other organization. In this episode of Public Pensions & Investments Briefings, Thomas Dover and Ashley Dunning discuss the protections public pension plans can put in place today to ensure these kinds of data privacy attacks are kept at bay. They also discuss other intellectual property issues every public pension plan administrator should be aware of in order to maintain the health of their organization.
2 Sept 2021
Why Pension Systems May Find New Opportunities in P3 Infrastructure Investments
Infrastructure investment, whether through direct investments in specific projects or through commingled funds, is an attractive asset class for public pension systems and other institutional investors. In this episode of Public Pensions & Investments Briefings, Yuliya Oryol, Andrée Blais and Shant Boyajian introduce you to public-private partnerships (P3s) and alternative delivery methods for infrastructure projects. In addition to P3 projects in the U.S., they also discuss other countries, such as Canada, that have a more developed and mature market for investing in infrastructure projects by public pension systems and other institutional investors. Yuliya, Andrée and Shant also discuss the Biden administration’s infrastructure plan, which should open up investment opportunities for institutional investors.
7 Jul 2021
Getting the Most Out of Your Public Pension Plan Insurance Coverage
All public pension plans need a well-crafted fiduciary liability insurance policy. This should include ample coverage, including protection against the risk of impending litigation. The recent ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in favor of the San Joaquin County Employees’ Retirement Association (“SJCERA”) in its case against Travelers Casualty and Surety Company of America (“Travelers”) highlights the importance of understanding what to include in your insurance policy. The court found that Travelers had been in breach of contract and granted declaratory relief arising out of Travelers' denial of coverage under the duty-to-defend clause in SJCERA’s fiduciary liability insurance policy. In this episode of Public Pensions & Investments Briefings, Ashley Dunning and Jim Vorhis review this significant decision and explore what lessons may be drawn from that litigation as public retirement systems consider how to get the most out of their fiduciary liability and other insurance policies going forward.
16 Mar 2021
How Will the Biden Administration Impact Public Pension Investments?
In this episode of Public Pensions & Investments Briefings, Nossaman Public Pensions & Investments Group Partner Peter Mixon and Institutional Limited Partners Association Senior Policy Counsel Chris Hayes discuss what impact the Biden administration could have on public pensions. They explore how the new administration may alter investment regulations to align with their key policy initiatives, and how public pension plan investors should approach investing to ensure compliance.
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