(Washington)

We urge our readers in strong terms to not get their hopes too high about the new SEC “fiduciary rule”. Putting that in quotes was at the heart of why the rule looks very likely to suffer setbacks and ultimately fail to become an industry standard. The rule is already facing an onslaught of attacks, both externally and internally by the SEC’s own commissioners. The rule has been lambasted as not being a true fiduciary rule, and the long and arduous rulemaking process, combined with a formal public commentary period, mean the rule seems likely to fail.

FINSUM: We don’t think there is any way this rule will turn into an industry standard looking anything like it currently does. We suspect it is time to go back to the drawing board.