Branca and McClain say they have diligently carried out their fiduciary duties.

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"I was trying to do my fiduciary duty by throwing out a few questions, but there's no way to know what's really going on, " says Shipione, whose fellow directors, she says, jeered her out of meetings and lambasted her in letters for rocking the boat.

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The Senate bill apparently stripped out the provision for a universal fiduciary standard, but there is still a chance that it will get reinstated in the House-Senate conference.

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If you hear that an independent fiduciary has been retained in connection with your pension, watch out.

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Being an insider with a fiduciary duty sure is risky, as heavyweight Rajat Gupta is now finding out amidst serious SEC charges.

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Another danger the GAO pointed out: 401(k) providers often deliberately structure company plans to avoid accepting fiduciary, or legal, responsibility for the plans under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).

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While this is a common problem among traders, I see a similar trait playing out across our great land in the Human Resource departments and Investment Committees that are indirectly responsible for the fiduciary responsibilities of a vast majority of retirement plans and pensions.

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