Insurance Groups Launch Anti-Fiduciary Ads
May 11, 2017 by Melanie Waddell
Opponents of the Labor Department’s fiduciary rule are launching grassroots campaigns and taking to print and digital ads to voice their opinions that the rule should be stopped in its tracks — and should not kick in on June 9.
Americans to Protect Family Security has launched a print and digital ad campaign that the Labor Department “must act now” to delay the fiduciary regulation.
The group has also placed ads in Roll Call and The Hill, with plans to digitally advertise on Twitter the week of May 8 into the week of May 15.
The APRS ads blare the following message:
The Labor Department
MUST ACT NOW
- DELAY the entire fiduciary regulation
- REVIEW it thoroughly and as directed by the president
- PROTECT access to retirement information and lifetime income products
America’s life insurers, agents and brokers look forward to working with Secretary Acosta, the administration, Congress and the states to GET IT RIGHT.
Because getting it wrong harms retirement savers.
The Americans to Protect Retirement Security, part of the Secure Family Coalition (which includes 10 groups including the American Council of Life Insurers, the Insured Retirement Institute and the National Association for Fixed Annuities) also ran ads the week of May 8 in Politico Morning Money asking fiduciary regulation opponents to register their complaints. The ad also offers a checklist for the Department to follow regarding the fiduciary rule.
ACLI spokesman Jack Dolan told ThinkAdvisor on Wednesday that ACLI is “seeking a meeting with the secretary to stress the importance of the department acting promptly on our request for a delay in the regulation.”
The ads come on the heels of NAFA launching a grassroots campaign on May 8 to appeal directly to the Trump administration as well as to Labor Secretary R. Alexander Acosta to stop Labor’s fiduciary rule from taking effect on June 9.
“We want the administration to understand the disappointment and anxiety being felt by our membership, which thought President Trump would never allow such a far-reaching excessive regulation to get this far,” said NAFA Executive Director Chip Anderson in a statement announcing the initiative.
Anderson said that as of Monday “over 2,000 members have already written the White House, and we anticipate hundreds more will be doing so in the weeks ahead.”
