Comment Window Opens for Proposed Rules re Conflicts of Interest in Retirement Advice
The U.S. Department of Labor has released a new proposed rule intended to protect consumers from conflicts of interest among an array of folks who want to give advice about how and where to invest 401(c) and IRA retirement funds. The new rule would impose a “fiduciary duty” standard on those advisors, rather than the current, lower “suitability” standard for investment advice.
A DOL press release explains the goal:
“This boils down to a very simple concept: if someone is paid to give you retirement investment advice, that person should be working in your best interest,” said Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez. “As commonsense as this may be, laws to protect consumers and ensure that financial advisers are giving the best advice in a complex market have not kept pace. Our proposed rule would change that. Under the proposed rule, retirement advisers can be paid in various ways, as long as they are willing to put their customers’ best interest first.”
Today’s announcement includes a proposed rule that would update and close loopholes in a nearly 40-year-old regulation. The proposal would expand the number of persons who are subject to fiduciary best interest standards when they provide retirement investment advice. It also includes a package of proposed exemptions allowing advisers to continue to receive payments that could create conflicts of interest if the conditions of the exemption are met. In addition, the announcement includes a comprehensive economic analysis of the proposals’ expected gains to investors and costs.
The New York Times covers the new rules in “U.S. Plans Stiffer Rules Protecting Retiree Cash,” and notes the history of opposition to this kind of reform from — surprise, surprise — the “financial services industry.” There is a 75-day window for public comments on the latest proposal.
Perhaps my biggest surprise was the remarkably “consumer friendly” presentation of the proposed change by the Department of Labor on its webpage, beginning with this simple video describing conflicts of interest.