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Title 29 — LaborRelease 119-73

§1112 Bonding

Title 29 › Chapter CHAPTER 18— - EMPLOYEE RETIREMENT INCOME SECURITY PROGRAM › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER I— - PROTECTION OF EMPLOYEE BENEFIT RIGHTS › Subtitle Subtitle B— - Regulatory Provisions › Part part 4— - fiduciary responsibility › § 1112

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

Plan officials who handle money or property for an employee benefit plan must have a bond. Some people are not required to be bonded: administrators, officers, and employees of plans that pay benefits only from an employer’s or union’s general assets; brokers or dealers who are registered and already covered by a self‑regulatory organization’s fidelity bond; and corporate fiduciaries that are U.S. or state companies that can act as a trust or insurer, are supervised by federal or state authorities, and keep combined capital and surplus above a minimum set by the Secretary (that minimum must be at least $1,000,000). A bank whose deposits are not FDIC‑insured is exempt only if state rules require bonding that the Secretary finds equal to federal standards. It is illegal to handle, spend, or control plan funds without the required bond, or to let someone do those jobs if they are not bonded. You also cannot buy a required bond from a surety or agent in which the plan or an interested party has control or a large financial stake. The Secretary will make rules to carry out these requirements and can exempt a plan if other bonding or the plan’s finances protect participants; an administrator can give evidence to ask for an exemption.

Full Legal Text

Title 29, §1112

Labor — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Every fiduciary of an employee benefit plan and every person who handles funds or other property of such a plan (hereafter in this section referred to as “plan official”) shall be bonded as provided in this section; except that—
(1)where such plan is one under which the only assets from which benefits are paid are the general assets of a union or of an employer, the administrator, officers, and employees of such plan shall be exempt from the bonding requirements of this section,
(2)no bond shall be required of any entity which is registered as a broker or a dealer under section 78o(b) of title 15 if the broker or dealer is subject to the fidelity bond requirements of a self-regulatory organization (within the meaning of section 78c(a)(26) of title 15).11 So in original. The period probably should be “, and”.
(3)no bond shall be required of a fiduciary (or of any director, officer, or employee of such fiduciary) if such fiduciary—
(A)is a corporation organized and doing business under the laws of the United States or of any State;
(B)is authorized under such laws to exercise trust powers or to conduct an insurance business;
(C)is subject to supervision or examination by Federal or State authority; and
(D)has at all times a combined capital and surplus in excess of such a minimum amount as may be established by regulations issued by the Secretary, which amount shall be at least $1,000,000. Paragraph (2) shall apply to a bank or other financial institution which is authorized to exercise trust powers and the deposits of which are not insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, only if such bank or institution meets bonding or similar requirements under State law which the Secretary determines are at least equivalent to those imposed on banks by Federal law.
(b)It shall be unlawful for any plan official to whom subsection (a) applies, to receive, handle, disburse, or otherwise exercise custody or control of any of the funds or other property of any employee benefit plan, without being bonded as required by subsection (a) and it shall be unlawful for any plan official of such plan, or any other person having authority to direct the performance of such functions, to permit such functions, or any of them, to be performed by any plan official, with respect to whom the requirements of subsection (a) have not been met.
(c)It shall be unlawful for any person to procure any bond required by subsection (a) from any surety or other company or through any agent or broker in whose business operations such plan or any party in interest in such plan has any control or significant financial interest, direct or indirect.
(d)Nothing in any other provision of law shall require any person, required to be bonded as provided in subsection (a) because he handles funds or other property of an employee benefit plan, to be bonded insofar as the handling by such person of the funds or other property of such plan is concerned.
(e)The Secretary shall prescribe such regulations as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this section including exempting a plan from the requirements of this section where he finds that (1) other bonding arrangements or (2) the overall financial condition of the plan would be adequate to protect the interests of the beneficiaries and participants. When, in the opinion of the Secretary, the administrator of a plan offers adequate evidence of the financial responsibility of the plan, or that other bonding arrangements would provide adequate protection of the beneficiaries and participants, he may exempt such plan from the requirements of this section.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Codification In subsec. (a), “section 9304–9308 of title 31” substituted for “sections 6 through 13 of title 6, United States Code” on authority of Pub. L. 97–258, § 4(b), Sept. 13, 1982, 96 Stat. 1067, the first section of which enacted Title 31, Money and Finance.

Amendments

2019—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 116–94, in concluding provisions, inserted “or in the case of a pooled employer plan (as defined in section 1002(43) of this title)” after “section 1107(d)(1) of this title”. 2006—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 109–280, § 622(a), inserted at end of concluding provisions “In the case of a plan that holds employer securities (within the meaning of section 1107(d)(1) of this title), this subsection shall be applied by substituting ‘$1,000,000’ for ‘$500,000’ each place it appears.” Subsec. (a)(2), (3). Pub. L. 109–280, § 611(b), added par. (2) and redesignated former par. (2) as (3).

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 2019 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 116–94 applicable to plan years beginning after Dec. 31, 2020, see section 101(e) of Pub. L. 116–94, set out as a note under section 408 of Title 26, Internal Revenue Code.

Effective Date

of 2006 AmendmentAmendment by section 611(b) of Pub. L. 109–280 applicable to plan years beginning after Aug. 17, 2006, see section 611(h)(2) of Pub. L. 109–280, set out as a note under section 4975 of Title 26, Internal Revenue Code. Pub. L. 109–280, title VI, § 622(b), Aug. 17, 2006, 120 Stat. 979, provided that: “The amendment made by this section [amending this section] shall apply to plan years beginning after December 31, 2007.”

Regulations

Secretary authorized, effective Sept. 2, 1974, to promulgate

Regulations

wherever provisions of this part call for the promulgation of

Regulations

, see section 1031 and 1114 of this title.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

29 U.S.C. § 1112

Title 29 — Labor

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73