DOL Fiduciary News: September 13, 2017

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Meet the SEC nominees: One opposes the DOL fiduciary rule, one is a blank slate

InvestmentNews; Sep 12, 2017 @ 2:03 pm

One of the Trump administration's Securities and Exchange Commission nominees has doubts about the Labor Department's fiduciary rule and seems to favor disclosure as the best approach to investment advice standards. The other nominee is a blank slate on the issue.

Over the last several weeks, the White House has nominated Republican Hester Peirce and Democrat Robert L. Jackson Jr. for the agency's two vacant slots. Ms. Peirce, a senior fellow at the conservative Mercatus Center at George Mason University, has criticized the DOL regulation and says the SEC should take the lead on a fiduciary duty.

"The [DOL] rule is rooted in the belief that investors cannot choose for themselves," Ms. Peirce, 46, wrote in a May 22 U.S. News & World Report article. "The Securities and Exchange Commission should be allowed to take the lead in any rulemaking related to investors' interactions with financial professionals. Its approach to regulation preserves investor choice: Ensure that investors get the information they need to decide for themselves which products and services work for them."
(http://www.investmentnews.com)

Annuity Regulatory Climate Looks Mild: Analyst

ThinkAdvisor; September 12, 2017

The current regulatory forecast for the U.S. individual annuity market may now be for a little sunshine, with a chance of helpful breezes.

Ryan Krueger, a securities analyst at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Inc., gave a glimpse of how helpfully calm the annuity regulatory climate might be in a report on the life insurance and annuity issuer presentations at his firm's recent insurance conference.

In recent years, both life and annuity issuers have faced storms caused by low interest rates, and by the sales and marketing regulation writers at the U.S. Department of Labor.
(http://www.thinkadvisor.com)