SIFMA Statement on DOL’s Proposed 60-Day Delay and Review of the Fiduciary Rule

Washington, DC, March 1, 2017 – SIFMA today issued the following statement from Kenneth E. Bentsen, Jr., SIFMA president and CEO, on the Department of Labor’s proposal to delay the fiduciary rule for 60 days and open a 45-day comment period:

“Given the review requested by the administration, and the DOL’s call for comments on the rule, this 60-day delay should be implemented with post-haste. The delay will allow the new administration an opportunity to review the rule’s impact on investors and the market, while providing firms additional time to prepare for potential changes to the rule.

“We are already seeing the negative consequences of the rule on the marketplace with some firms announcing that they will no long offer certain products, others no longer offering any IRA brokerage accounts, firms reducing web based financial education tools, and others announcing that advice to clients with lower balanced accounts will be discontinued.

“Delaying the rule is imperative to avoid further client confusion and market disruption, as firms approach the drop-dead date to notify tens of millions of customers of service changes to their accounts because of the rule, ultimately making retirement savings more difficult for many investors.

“SIFMA has long-supported a best interest standard for brokers who provide personalized investment advice, but the DOL was not the right agency and its flawed rule was not the right approach. We will continue to advocate for a best interest standard, created by the SEC, that protects all retail investors, while preserving choice and advice without raising costs.”

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SIFMA is the voice of the U.S. securities industry. We represent the broker-dealers, banks and asset managers whose nearly 1 million employees provide access to the capital markets, raising over $2.5 trillion for businesses and municipalities in the U.S., serving clients with over $18.5 trillion in assets and managing more than $67 trillion in assets for individual and institutional clients including mutual funds and retirement plans. SIFMA, with offices in New York and Washington, D.C., is the U.S. regional member of the Global Financial Markets Association (GFMA). For more information, visit http://www.sifma.org.