Co-plaintiff Statement on Court Ruling to Uphold Labor Department’s Fiduciary Rule

 WASHINGTON, D.C., February 8, 2017 – The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Financial Services Institute, Financial Services Roundtable, Insured Retirement Institute, and Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (Co-plaintiffs) issued the following statement in response to today’s ruling on their lawsuit against the Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule:

“We continue to believe that the Department of Labor exceeded its authority, and we will pursue all of our available options to see that this rule is rescinded.  While we have long supported a best interest standard, this is a misguided rule that will harm retirement savers and financial services firms that provide needed assistance and options to their clients, including modest savers and small business employees.  The President’s recent directive to the Department, reflecting well-founded, ongoing and significant concerns about the rule, is a welcome development.”

On June 1, the five national trade associations filed the legal challenge to the Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule for brokers and registered investment advisers serving Americans with Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) and 401(k) plans. On November 17, oral arguments were made before Judge Barbara Lynn in the U.S. District Court Northern District of Texas.

The co-plaintiffs filed in conjunction with the Greater Irving-Las Colinas’ Chamber of Commerce, Lake Houston Area Chamber of Commerce, Lubbock Chamber of Commerce, and Texas Association of Business.

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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.