Displaying items by tag: best interest

(Washington)

Advisors have recently been feeling relieved about the fifth circuit court ruling that struck down the DOL’s version of the fiduciary rule. However, it may not be time to jump for joy yet. The fifth circuit is supposed to issue a mandate which vacates the rule, which takes it out of force. It is unclear why the fifth circuit court has not done so yet, but it is starting to make the industry nervous.

FINSUM: Most say the court simply has not gotten around to issuing the mandate yet, but that seems odd given it has been two months since the verdict. The next date to watch is May 16th, as that is the deadline for states and other entities to apply for appeals to the ruling.

(Washington)

The DOL made an announcement yesterday, telling the industry that it would temporarily suspend enforcement action of various parts of its fiduciary rule. The department said it “will not pursue prohibited transactions claims against investment advice fiduciaries who are working diligently and in good faith to comply with the impartial conduct standards for transactions that would have been exempted in the BIC Exemption and Principal Transactions Exemption, or treat such fiduciaries as violating the applicable prohibited transaction rules”.

FINSUM: This was largely expected given the DOL’s loss in the fifth circuit court, but evidently the wording of it came as a surprise.

(Washington)

Ding, dong, the fiduciary rule is dead. As was widely expected, the Department of Labor missed its deadline this week to file for an appeal of the fifth circuit court ruling against its fiduciary rule. That means that the ruling given by the fifth circuit court, which vacated the rule, now stands, leaving the rule is all but dead. However, other bodies, including the AARP and the states of California, New York, and Oregon, have all applied to stand in as defendants in the case. None of these requests have been processed yet.

FINSUM: So it will be very interesting to see whether the fifth circuit court approves these requests, especially considering it was so adamantly against the rule.

(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.

(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.