Voya 2013 Annual Report Download - page 63

The commodity futures and commodity options industry in the United States is subject to regulation under
the Commodity Exchange Act of 1936, as amended (the “Commodity Exchange Act”). The CFTC is charged
with the administration of the Commodity Exchange Act and the regulations adopted under that Act. Some of our
subsidiaries are registered with the CFTC as commodity pool operators and commodity trading advisors. Our
futures business is also regulated by the National Futures Association.
Employee Retirement Income Security Act Considerations
ERISA is a comprehensive federal statute that applies to U.S. employee benefit plans sponsored by private
employers and labor unions. Plans subject to ERISA include pension and profit sharing plans and welfare plans,
including health, life and disability plans. Among other things, ERISA imposes reporting and disclosure
obligations, prescribes standards of conduct that apply to plan fiduciaries and prohibits transactions known as
“prohibited transactions,” such as conflict-of-interest transactions, self-dealing and certain transactions between a
benefit plan and a party in interest. ERISA also provides for a scheme of civil and criminal penalties and
enforcement. Our insurance, investment management and retirement businesses provide services to employee
benefit plans subject to ERISA, including limited services under specific contract where we may act as an ERISA
fiduciary. We are also subject to ERISA’s prohibited transaction rules for transactions with ERISA plans, which
may affect our ability to, or the terms upon which we may, enter into transactions with those plans, even in
businesses unrelated to those giving rise to party in interest status. The applicable provisions of ERISA and the
Internal Revenue Code are subject to enforcement by the DOL, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) and
the U.S. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (“PBGC”).
In the fourth quarter of 2011, the DOL withdrew proposed regulations that would more broadly define the
circumstances under which a person is considered to be a fiduciary by reason of giving investment advice to an
employee benefit plan or a plan’s participants. In early July 2013, the DOL announced that it would re-propose
these regulations, under the revised general topic of conflicts of interest under ERISA pertaining to investment
advice. The new proposed regulation is estimated for release in August 2014. We cannot predict with any
certainty what will be contained in the re-proposed regulations, but they could alter the way our products and
services are marketed and sold to ERISA plans and their plan participants and to purchasers of individual
retirement accounts and individual retirement annuities. The SEC also has indicated that it may propose rules
creating a uniform standard of conduct applicable to broker-dealers and investment advisers, which, if adopted
may affect the distribution of our products. Should the SEC rules, if adopted, not align with any reissued and
finalized DOL regulations related to conflicts of interest in the provision of investment advice, the distribution of
our products could be further complicated.
The DOL has also issued a number of regulations recently, and may issue similar additional regulations, that
increase the level of disclosure that must be provided to plan sponsors and participants. These ERISA disclosure
requirements will likely increase the regulatory and compliance burden on us, resulting in increased costs.
Trust Activities Regulation
ING National Trust (“INT”), our wholly owned subsidiary, is a national banking association chartered
exclusively with trust powers by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (“OCC”). INT is not permitted to,
and does not, accept deposits (other than incidental to its trust activities). INT is subject to regulation, supervision
and examination by the OCC and its exercise of fiduciary powers must comply with Part 9 of the OCC’s
regulations, which governs the fiduciary activities of federally-chartered banks and trust companies and, among
other things, imposes certain review and recordkeeping obligations and certain restrictions on self-dealing and
conflict of interest transactions. On September 16, 2013, Lion Holdings and INT entered into an agreement with
an unaffiliated third party related to a block of personal trust accounts for which INT is currently the trustee.
Pursuant to the Agreement, the counterparty (i) has been engaged to provide services for managing these
accounts on behalf of INT as trustee; (ii) is actively seeking consent of interested parties to replace INT as the
trustee on these accounts and (iii) upon the satisfaction of certain business and regulatory conditions, will
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