DOL Fiduciary News: January 30, 2017
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UBS Expects to See Fiduciary Rule Delay
The Wall Street Journal; Jan. 27, 2017 12:52 p.m. ET
UBS Group AG is planning for a brokerage landscape unaffected by sweeping new retirement rules set to take effect later this year.
The Swiss bank’s chief financial officer, Kirt Gardner, was the latest executive to say the Trump administration will likely delay or halt the Labor Department’s fiduciary rule requiring brokers to minimize conflicts when giving retirement advice.
“There is some indication that [the rule] will, at a minimum, be delayed, and then potentially, not implemented at all,” Mr. Gardner said to analysts while discussing UBS’s fourth-quarter earnings. UBS’s U.S. brokerage unit, UBS Wealth Management Americas, posted a record fourth-quarter pretax profit as renewed investor confidence pushed revenue higher.
(http://www.wsj.com)
Franklin Resources chief: SEC, not DOL, should pursue fiduciary rule
SNL.com; Friday, January 27, 2017 1:12 PM ET
Franklin Resources Inc. continues to prepare for the implementation of the Department of Labor's Conflict of Interest Rule, but executives expect some change in adoption.
Under President Donald Trump's administration, the rule might take effect six months to a year later than scheduled, Chairman and CEO Gregory Johnson said. Currently, the rule is on track to be implemented in April.
(http://www.snl.com)
DOL Rule Sparks Changes Even While Rule Is In Limbo
Financial Advisor; January 27, 2017
Whether the Department of Labor fiduciary rule is implemented on time or not, the rule has already had an impact on advisors and advisory firms, says Bill Morrissey, the managing director of business development at LPL Financial.
Advisors and firms are consolidating partially because of the support they will need to implement the DOL rule, which requires advisors working with retirement plans to act in the best interests of their clients, says Morrissey, a thought leader in the financial services industry.
That trend will continue this year and probably accelerate, he says.
(http://www.fa-mag.com)
DOL Fiduciary Reform Effort Losing Steam
PLANSPONSOR.COM | January 27, 2017
The Department of Labor’s (DOL) fiduciary rule reform effort, more than a decade in the making, seems more likely than ever to finally stall, according to a variety of industry experts called upon to interpret the likely impact of a Trump Administration and the Republican-controlled Congress on the employer-sponsored retirement planning market.
Asked what comes next for the DOL rulemaking, which was technically finalized under the Obama Administration but does not begin to take effect until April 2017, Brad Campbell, Washington-based counsel with Drinker Biddle and Reath, says it’s most likely the rulemaking will be overturned by the new Labor Department leadership.
(http://www.plansponsor.com)
Trump’s pick to head OMB staunch opponent of Labor fiduciary rule
BenefitsPro.com; January 27, 2017
President Trump’s nominee to head the Office of Management and Budget has voiced serious reservations for the Labor Department’s Fiduciary rule.
In 2015, Rep. Mick Mulvaney, R-SC, told attendees at Commonwealth Financial Network’s annual conference that Labor’s fiduciary rule, which had yet to be finalized, was “awful,” according to reporting in ThinkAdvisor (http://www.thinkadvisor.com/2015/11/13/slim-chance-to-stop-dol-fiduciary-rule-but-brokers), BenefitsPro’s sister publication.
If confirmed as OMB director, Mulvaney will be both a chief architect of White House budgets, and will directly oversee the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, which is part of OMB.
(http://www.benefitspro.com)
DOL Fiduciary Rule to Spark More ETF Use among Advisors: Cerulli
ThinkAdvisor; January 27, 2017
Looming compliance with the Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule is pushing advisors to favor lower-cost investment products, with 45% of advisors planning to increase use of exchange-traded funds and 32% planning to boost allocations to passive investment products, according to new research by Cerulli Associates.
“These percentages solidify the uptick in ETF asset growth,” Cerulli notes in the January issue of The Cerulli Edge.
(http://www.thinkadvisor.com)