(Washington)

Brokers, advisors, anyone covered by Reg BI, look out for a crackdown by the SEC. Former chief of FINRA, Susan Schroeder, says that enforcement is likely to start soon (i.e. this year) and may be “very aggressive”. According to Schroeder, “Early enforcement actions will be predicated on things like policies and procedures, but by past SEC standards, that is very aggressive”, and if the enforcement actions “are predicated on things like inadequate training or failures to have policies and procedures, from a legal theory perspective, that’s aggressive”.

FINSUM: So any way you cut it, SEC enforcement of the DOL rule this year looks like it is going to be intense. Brokers beware.