Announcing the 2026 ERISA Compliance Handbook for Asset Managers—Key Updates and What’s New

We are pleased to share the 2026 edition of Ropes & Gray’s ERISA Compliance Handbook for Asset Managers.  Available now as a dedicated website, this new edition continues to serve as a practical resource for managers of U.S. private pension assets, explaining the core rules and requirements of ERISA as they apply to investment management and fiduciary activity. The Handbook is organized to guide readers from foundational principles to advanced transactional issues, with coverage spanning the determination of when ERISA applies, to fiduciary conduct standards, customary documentation, reporting and disclosure expectations, rules for specific transactions, and the evolving legal landscape—including special considerations for governmental plans and participant-directed arrangements such as 401(k) plans.

In addition to refreshing the baseline guidance, this new edition incorporates notable regulatory developments and risk considerations, including updates to the QPAM Exemption, cybersecurity expectations, ESG fiduciary standards, and guidance for managing IRA investments.

What’s Inside the 2026 Handbook

The Handbook covers the fundamental building blocks of ERISA plan asset management, including how to determine when you are managing ERISA plan assets and the basic rules governing fiduciary conduct. It addresses standard requirements and customary documentation for managers before accepting ERISA plan assets, including contractual provisions and compliance representations tailored to ERISA mandates. It outlines policies and procedures relevant to ERISA relationships—for example, reporting and disclosure obligations in manager–plan engagements, rules on gifts and entertainment, and proxy voting practices. It describes qualifications and precursor steps for managers assuming ERISA fiduciary roles, with a focus on governance, competence, and control standards. It explains the rules that apply to specific transactions with ERISA assets, including reliance on available exemptions and conditions. Finally, it summarizes the current and fluid legal landscape affecting plan fiduciaries, including ESG investing, digital asset considerations, and special considerations for governmental plans and participant-directed arrangements such as 401(k)s and other individual account plans.

Highlights of Material Changes Reflected in this Edition

The 2026 update integrates several developments that are particularly relevant for asset managers’ day-to-day compliance and transaction structuring.

1. QPAM Changes – Amendments to the Qualified Professional Asset Manager (QPAM) Exemption heighten eligibility and operational requirements. Financial thresholds have increased to an AUM threshold of approximately $101,956,000 (up from $85 million) and a shareholders’/partners’ equity threshold of approximately $1,346,000 (up from $1 million), with scheduled increases for 2027 and 2030 and ongoing annual inflation adjustments, requiring managers to reconfirm status and monitor threshold indexing in the ordinary course. In addition, there is now an affirmative notice requirement to the DOL for QPAM reliance and for subsequent changes, which has practical implications for managers who want to preserve future exemptive flexibility. The standard for management authority has also shifted—transactions must reflect the QPAM’s sole responsibility and independent exercise of fiduciary judgment, a change that may present structuring and documentation challenges in sub-advisory settings and collective investment trusts where a sponsoring institution retains oversight. Finally, the integrity standard has been expanded: disqualification can now result not only from specified criminal convictions, but also from “Prohibited Misconduct,” including certain non-prosecution or settlement agreements—heightening diligence needs around affiliates and control persons and increasing the importance of monitoring individual exemptions and their conditions.
2. Cybersecurity Considerations for ERISA Plans – The Handbook now addresses the DOL’s intensifying focus on cybersecurity across all ERISA plans. The Handbook’s discussion covers the DOL’s Compliance Assistance Releases and the implications for fiduciaries’ vendor engagement and operational controls, including expectations for contractual terms covering information security standards, incident notification, confidentiality, retention and destruction practices, and appropriate insurance and breach responsibility—all of which are increasingly demanded in manager and service provider agreements.
3. ESG – The Handbook now includes a discussion of the shifting regulatory standards applicable to ESG considerations for ERISA plans.  While the Biden-era regulations permitted consideration of ESG factors insofar as they are financially material and consistent with acting in plan participants’ best interests, ongoing litigation led the DOL last year to cease defending those rules on appeal and to announce its intent to promulgate a new rulemaking in 2026. The upshot is continued regulatory uncertainty and the need to anchor investment decision-making in core statutory fiduciary principles, with robust documentation of prudent process.
4. 401(k) and IRA Fiduciary Rules – The Handbook now includes a section addressing the evolving regulatory guidance pertaining to the definition of ERISA fiduciary advice and the categories of permissible investment options for plans. The DOL’s 2024 final rules retained the traditional “five-part test” framework while expanding what constitutes “regular” investment advice, paired with an updated PTE 2020-02; however, subsequent nationwide stays and withdrawal of appeals indicate further rulemaking is forthcoming this year (which is aligned with broader deregulatory directives from the Trump administration). The Handbook also reflects the DOL’s rescission of sub-regulatory guidance cautioning against cryptocurrency in 401(k) menus, restoring a neutral posture that places discretion and process back with plan fiduciaries. In parallel, an executive order calls for expanding access to “alternative assets,” encouraging interagency coordination to facilitate broader participant choice and potential safe harbors—developments that may shape product design, participant disclosures, and litigation risk management in the year ahead.

Although every effort has been made to reflect current guidance on key issues, this area of the law is continuously evolving, and new guidance appears on a regular basis.  While the last Section aims to provide a summary of the most significant recent developments affecting ERISA plan fiduciaries, we advise the readers of this Handbook to continue watching for new developments and email ERISAFiduciaryPractice@ropesgray.com or consult any member of Ropes & Gray LLP’s ERISA Fiduciary team for further explanation or substantive application of the rules to any given situation.