(Washington)

Just when you thought it was all over, it isn’t. The DOL technically only has until Monday to try to appeal its court loss in March, but one of the risk factors cited in the case just came to pass. The AARP, a big proponent of the DOL’s version of the fiduciary rule, has just asked the courts if it can step in as the defendant in the 5th circuit court case the DOL has already lost. It is doing so in an attempt to appeal the verdict and keep the rule alive given the agency’s reticence to ask for an appeal itself. According to the AARP, “AARP is not giving up on our fight to make sure that hard-earned retirement savings have strong protections from conflicts and hidden fees”.

FINSUM: This is one of the eventualities we warned about. We would not be surprised if this attempt was successful and the DOL fiduciary rule saga went on. In reality, the AARP was probably just waiting to see how strong the SEC’s proposals were before launching this effort.