The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday blocked third-party efforts to appeal its March ruling that vacated the Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule in its entirety. A group of state attorneys general and AARP had filed petitions to be granted standing to appeal the decision. DOL declined to appeal the ruling by the April 30 deadline, making it highly unlikely that the Fifth Circuit ruling will now be overturned.
The rule, which was finalized under the Obama administration, had greatly expanded the definition of “fiduciary” under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act and the Internal Revenue Code. The rule required banks and other financial institutions to reassess whether and how they will continue to market and sell their retirement products and services to employee benefit plans and to individual retirement accounts.