DOL Fiduciary News: July 31, 2017
Please Note:
These links will take you directly to the homepage of the website that features the article.
To reach the article directly, copy and paste the article title into the search feature on the homepage of the publication website.
Legal Fight to Stop DOL Rule Returns to Court
InsuranceNewsNet; July 28, 2017
The legal fight to stop the Department of Labor fiduciary rule returns to the spotlight Monday in the Fifth Circuit Appeals Court in New Orleans.
Arguments will be heard by a three-judge panel led by Chief Judge Carl E. Stewart. The case is third on the docket and each party will have 30 minutes to make their case.
The industry plaintiffs are consolidated from three lawsuits that were filed last summer in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas. While the plaintiffs lost the federal court decisions, the Dallas court was chosen specifically because appeals would go to the Fifth Circuit.
The Fifth Circuit is generally considered the most conservative in the country, with decisions that frequently define the government’s role narrowly.
(http://www.insurancenewsnet.com)
Galvin Slams SEC's Piwowar Over Anti-Fiduciary Rule Comments
ThinkAdvisor; July 28, 2017
Massachusetts' top securities regulator, Commonwealth Secretary William Galvin, is slamming SEC Commissioner Michael Piwowar’s recent comments opposing the Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule and is urging Labor to “continue to staunchly defend” the rule.
In this Friday letter (http://www.sec.state.ma.us/sct/sctpdf/Hauser0001.pdf) to Labor, Galvin stated that “the horrific financial abuses associated with conflicted advice in the area of retirement rollovers have been well documented. I am therefore dismayed that a sitting SEC commissioner would so forcefully join with industry to attack the rule.”
Piwowar, a Republican, told Labor in a Tuesday comment letter that the fiduciary rule is troubling because it will “extend beyond retirement accounts and will be disruptive of the broker-client relationship in general.”
Labor’s fiduciary rule “will have a dramatic impact on the provision of financial services to retail clients throughout the financial services industry,” Piwowar said in his response to Labor’s request for information.