96
Opinion of the Court
Although these provisions are not mellifluous, read as a whole their import is reasonably clear. To help fulfill ERISA's broadly protective purposes,5 Congress commodiously imposed fiduciary standards on persons whose actions affect the amount of benefits retirement plan participants will receive. See 29 U. S. C. § 1002(21)(A) (defining as a fiduciary any person who "exercises any authority or control respecting management or disposition of [a plan's] assets"); H. R. Conf. Rep. No. 93-1280, p. 296 (1974) (the "fiduciary responsibility rules generally apply to all employee benefit plans . . . in or affecting interstate commerce"). The guaranteed benefit policy exclusion from ERISA's fiduciary regime 6 is markedly confined: The deposits over which Hancock is exercising authority or control under GAC 50 must have been obtained "solely" by reason of the issuance of "an insurance policy or contract" that provides for benefits "the amount of which is guaranteed," and even then it is only "to the extent" that GAC 50 provides for such benefits that the § 1101(b)(2)(B) exemption applies.
In contrast, elsewhere in the statute Congress spoke without qualification. For example, Congress exempted from the definition of plan assets "any security" issued to a plan by a registered investment company. 29 U. S. C. § 1101(b)(1) (emphasis added). Similarly, Congress exempted "any assets of . . . an insurance company or any assets of a plan which are held by . . . an insurance company" from the re-5 See, e. g., Massachusetts v. Morash, 490 U. S. 107, 112-113 (1989); Metropolitan Life Ins. Co. v. Massachusetts, 471 U. S. 724, 732 (1985). The statute's statement of purpose observes that "the continued well-being and security of millions of employees and their dependents are directly affected by [employee benefit plans]" and declares it "desirable . . . that disclosure be made and safeguards be provided with respect to the establishment, operation, and administration of such plans . . . ." 29 U. S. C. § 1001(a).
6 Section 1101(b) also provides an exclusion for assets held by "an investment company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940." 29 U. S. C. § 1101(b)(1).
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