Retirement-plan sponsors aren't required by regulation to perform a benchmarking analysis as part of their fiduciary responsibilities, but it can be an effective way to help meet ERISA due-diligence obligations, experts say. Benchmarking provides an opportunity for independent, bank and insurance broker-dealers to "differentiate themselves from the competition," says Thomas Quercia of Broadridge. "... There's a lot of angst around the fiduciary standard."