Private Pensions: Conflicts Of Interest Can Affect Defined Benefit And Defined Contribution Plans : Congressional Testimony

Book Description:

An analysis of available data on pension consultants and plans revealed a statistical association between inadequate disclosure and lower investment returns for ongoing plans, suggesting the possible adverse financial effect of such nondisclosure. The econometric analysis detected lower annual rates of return for those ongoing plans associated with consultants that had failed to disclose significant conflicts of interest. These lower rates ranged from a statistically significant 1.2-1.3 % points over the 2000-04 period. The avg. returns for ongoing plans that used consultants who failed to disclose significant conflicts was 3.2-3.3% for the period. This finding suggests the importance of detecting the presence of conflicts among pension plan consultants. Illus.