Two competing fiduciary-process models are hardening on opposite sides of the Atlantic
The US House passed the Protecting Prudent Investment of Retirement Savings Act (H.R. 2988) by 213–205, which would direct ERISA retirement-plan fiduciaries to weigh pecuniary factors first; the Labor Department has signalled a replacement for the ESG rule. The bill is not yet law. Read alongside the UK Stewardship Code — voluntary stewardship principles built around long-term sustainable value and market-wide risks — the two regimes point in different directions.
The case: a bright line protects savers from having retirement money steered by goals other than their returns. The counter-case: narrowing the lens to “pecuniary only” can crowd out financially material, system-level risks — climate, concentration, instability — that move a whole diversified portfolio over decades.
What to watch: whether ERISA plans build parallel processes for global mandates that still sit under UK and EU stewardship regimes.
Sources: US House Clerk, FRC, ASPPA.
UAO Fiduciary — Edition 001. We report the debate; you make the call. This briefing is not legal, investment, or voting advice.