DOL Defends Its New Investment Advisor Fiduciary Rule

The asset advisor industry isn’t happy with the Department of Labor’s recently issued final rule on when a party will be deemed an ERISA fiduciary by providing investment advice. This post from Bradley Arant Boult Cummings includes  a statement from the head of SIFMA, the Securities Industry and Financial Management Association, the self-described advocate for broker-dealers, banks and asset managers. The trade group bemoans the “greatly flawed” methodology of DOL and maintains the new rule “could force significant changes to current relationships, which may leave clients without the help they need to prepare for retirement.” Also included in this post is the DOL’s response to such criticisms in the form of a chart that lists point-by-point many of the objections the agency had received to earlier iterations of the rule and the changes it made to accommodate them.