PNC Financial Services Group Inc. won their lawsuit brought by their employees, that accused them of paying excessive recordkeeping fees for their 401(k) plan.
Federal Judge Christy Criswell Wiegand in the Western District of Pennsylvania said that expert witness, Ty Minnich, hired by employees to discuss 401(k) recordkeeping fees did not use “reliable methodology” in concluding that the plan fees were unreasonable.
In 2014, the plan’s base recordkeeping fee was $46.55 per participant, and it declined to $32 per participant by January 2022, according to the case documents.
PNC had argued that Minnich’s testimony was not reliable because his opinion was based solely on his experience without using any reproduceable or traceable process. The judge agreed.
The PNC Inventive Savings plan contains about $8.1 billion in assets and 80,335 participants, according to the most recent Form 5500 filing.
