DOL Fiduciary News: June 23, 2017

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Cloudy with a Chance of Lawsuits

Retirement Income Journal; Thu, June 22, 2017

It’s been repeated often enough that many take it for fact: That the DOL fiduciary rule’s Best Interest Contract Exemption (BICE) will trigger a deluge of multi-million-dollar class-action suits against financial institutions who sign it.

But is the rule, which became effective two weeks ago, really going to unleash a wave of huge lawsuits?

“I don’t think anyone really knows the answer to this question,” a brokerage executive told RIJ recently. “I think it’s safe to assume that plaintiff’s attorneys are going to try and find holes in the process and procedures that [we] establish.” He assumes that there will be lawsuits, and that those lawsuits will test the compliance procedures that brokerages are putting in place to make sure their advisors and brokers don’t violate the letter of the BICE.
(http://retirementincomejournal.com)

DOL Fiduciary Rule: Survey on Financial Advisor Sentiment [Aite Group]

Boston, June 22, 2017 – Avid public debate continues regarding the U.S. Department of Labor fiduciary rule. The rule will undergo a DOL examination, and it could be amended or rescinded. Nevertheless, the rule went into force on June 9, 2017, and Aite Group included questions on the DOL fiduciary rule in its seventh annual survey of financial advisors to reveal the sentiment on the front lines.

...This research looks at the financial advisors’ experience on this winding regulatory road and is based on Aite Group’s 2017 online survey of U.S. financial advisors. This report focuses on the responses of 152 financial advisors who actively service retail retirement accounts and state they are familiar with the impact of the DOL fiduciary rule in relation to working with clients. 
(http://aitegroup.com)