The Partnership Account® for Pension Professionals

Frequently Asked Questions

• What products do you have for plan sponsors and pension professionals?

  Colonial is a leading provider of pension professional and plan sponsor insurance for the pension industry.

  We offer ERISA fidelity bonds, fiduciary liability insurance, and cyber liability insurance for plan sponsors. Our cyber liability insurance is currently only offered with our two or three-year ERISA fidelity bond packages.

  For pension professionals, we offer errors & omissions insurance, fiduciary liability insurance, service provider bonds, registered investment advisor bonds, employee dishonesty bonds, and will soon be introducing cyber liability insurance for pension professionals.

• How fast are the online quote and purchase processes?

  Colonial’s proprietary e-commerce engine allows you to instantly quote and purchase bonds online. Once you enter plan information and complete the application, your bond and insurance purchases are immediately available, and can be printed on-demand. It’s just that simple.

• Why should a plan sponsor purchase an ERISA fidelity bond and fiduciary liability insurance package with cyber liability insurance?

  66% of small to medium sized businesses reported a cyber attack in 2018, up from the 55% in 2016, and according to media sources and public information, over $1.6 trillion dollars have been lost in the U.S. due to data breaches. The Department of Labor has gathered steps to help protect data, but there is no way to stop all breaches. Colonial introduced cyber liability insurance as an effective and affordable way to help businesses mitigate the risk of losses due to a cyber breach.

  Our two and three-year packages offer extended coverage and cyber liability insurance for plan sponsors at no extra cost. In addition, these two and three-year packages offer greater annual savings compared to a one-year fiduciary liability package.

• What is cyber liability insurance?

  Colonial’s cyber coverage protects your plan sponsor and their business by providing a solution to help manage data breaches successfully. Services include a dedicated team of cyber breach professionals who assist plan sponsors at every stage of incident investigation and breach response. These professionals coordinate forensics experts and specialized lawyers to help establish what’s been compromised, assess the plan sponsor’s responsibility, and notify those individuals affected.

  In addition, coverage includes the coordination of any needed credit or identify monitoring and public relations advice to help a business safeguard its reputation. Of course, Colonial’s cyber liability insurance also indemnifies and defends plan sponsors from covered lawsuits or regulatory actions that could result from a data breach.

• What is extended coverage?

  Extended coverage is protection we offer to our two and three-year ERISA fidelity bonds, for qualifying assets only. It guarantees that as plan assets grow, the bond will also increase to maintain compliance with the U.S. Department of Labor—for no additional cost during the coverage period.

• Do you provide retroactive coverage for ERISA bonds?

  Yes, this is unique to Colonial. We make it easy to obtain ERISA fidelity bonds and even allow the purchase of retroactive coverage for previous years that a plan was not bonded.

  The retroactive coverage eliminates the risks of plan sponsors receiving a citation or possible audit for the U.S. Department of Labor, which can be both time consuming and expensive.

• What is fiduciary liability insurance and cost?

  Fiduciary liability insurance protects a plan sponsor’s personal assets due to a breach of a fiduciary duty, such as imprudent plan investments or investments having excessively high fees. Not having this coverage in place puts your own personal assets at risk. For example, Colonial has paid and defended fiduciary liability claims ranging from $10,000 to over $1,000,000. Getting this peace of mind is well worth the cost of coverage, which averages as low as $130 per year.

• What is the client management dashboard?

  Our online dashboard provides real-time information and enables you to instantly purchase or renew a client’s ERISA bond, view renewal history, adjust bond limits, and much more. These free management tools allow you to become more efficient—working smarter, not harder.

• Can I insert my referral link in the annual census and onboarding documents?

  Yes, you can insert your referral link into the bond section of the annual census and your onboarding documents. If a plan sponsor answers “no” to having a bond, they will be directed to click on Colonial’s link to obtain bond coverage immediately.

  Implementation of this process will help get all of your plan sponsors into bond compliance for the upcoming year, which means you’ll no longer need to track them down to obtain bond coverage during the 5500 filing season—because they’ll already be bonded.

• What is the Colonial Bond Compliance Program?

  Our free service saves administrators the time associated with confirming and verifying ERISA bond coverage when filing the 5500. It is the most efficient way to view all of your plan sponsors’ ERISA fidelity bond information in one place. You can even purchase a bond for your client retroactively to ensure U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) compliance and avoid costly fines.

  Our proprietary Bond Compliance Program offers a simple solution for pension professional firms to confirm and verify bond compliance for all of their clients—with both Colonial and other sureties. Our proprietary software generates a detailed report which details whether a plan is bonded, not bonded, or insufficiently bonded. Colonial will then work with your firm on the best approach to get all of your plan sponsors in compliance with the DOL, while also providing cost saving on ERISA fidelity bonds.

• Why do pension professionals partner with Colonial?

  Pension professionals partner with Colonial to consolidate their plan sponsors’ ERISA bonds into one location and ensure they are U.S. Department of Labor compliant. Colonial is rated “A” Excellent by A.M. Best Company and is a long tenured member of ASPPA and NIPA.

  At Colonial, you can easily obtain industry-specific protection for yourself with errors & omissions insurance and fiduciary liability insurance.

• Is there a financial incentive available for referrals?

  Pension professionals have the opportunity to earn advertising transaction revenue with their referral code, hyperlink, and Bond Compliance Program purchases of ERISA fidelity bonds and fiduciary liability insurance. Participation in this aspect of the program is optional.