When President Barack Obama pledged greater transparency for participants in private pension plans, he specified that companies should disclose to participants where their money is invested.

We find no evidence of that level of disclosure, detailing to participants specific companies and holdings and how investments are performing.

However, new rules enacted during Obama's term bring a greater degree of transparency in other ways.

Most significantly, new Department of Labor rules known as the 408(b)(2) disclosures require service providers -- investment companies such as Vanguard or Fidelity -- to disclose to pension plan fiduciaries the fees they charge, any conflicts of interest and all information required by existing law. There are also new, separate disclosure requirements for participants in defined contribution 401(k) plans.

The fiduciary is charged with overseeing the plan and acting on behalf of its participants. The new rules then "ensure that responsible plan fiduciaries are provided the information they need to make better decisions when selecting and monitoring service providers for their plans.”

We spoke with Ted Godbout, communications manager for the ERISA Industry Committee, a Washington organization that works in the interests of companies covered by private pension law. He said that disclosures to fiduciaries are what matter in the private pension world because that's who oversees investment decisions, not plan participants.

"They're the ones responsible for the plan itself,” Godbout said.

But participants already receive an array of annual disclosures about their pensions, including how the funds are allocated (in mutual funds, cash accounts, etc.), if there are any major changes to the fund and the percent at which it is funded.

"There are a lot of disclosure requirements that are already out there,” Godbout said.

Still, while new regulations advance the overall goal of greater transparency, Obama has not met his pledge to "ensure that all employees who have company pensions receive annual disclosures about their pension fund's investments.” We rate this a Promise Broken.