Final DOL fiduciary rule: A bane or blessing for advisors?
May 3, 2016 by Warren S. Hersch
Since the Department of Labor’s April 6 publication of a finalized fiduciary rule for investment professionals who advise on retirement plan accounts, industry stakeholders have begun combing through the mammoth document. Their top concern: whether the DOL made enough changes to the earlier (and widely criticized) draft proposal as to be rendered workable.
The initial assessment: The DOL proved responsive to prior critiques on the margins, streamlining, clarifying and delaying execution of regulations that advisors and insurers earlier deemed onerous. But the finalized rule leaves the core of the new fiduciary requirements intact for those advising on retirement accounts governed by ERISA (The Employee Retirement Security Act of 1974). To boot, the regulations now also encompass products not addressed in the draft proposal. Click HERE to read more…
