DOL Fiduciary News: July 11, 2017

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How DOL questions foreshadow fiduciary rule's future

InvestmentNews; July 10, 2017

The fate of the remaining parts of the Labor Department’s fiduciary rule are foreshadowed in the types of questions the agency is asking in the request for information it recently released.

The queries indicate that the agency likely will streamline the regulation — which requires financial advisers to act in the best interests of their clients in retirement accounts — in response to President Donald J. Trump’s directive to reassess the rule.

The measure has been partially implemented, including provisions that increase the number of advisers who are deemed fiduciaries and set impartial conduct standards. Here’s what could happen to the rest of the rule.
(http://www.investmentnews.com)

Is Best-Interest Contract Doomed?

Barron’s, July 10, 2017 5:51 p.m. ET

The Trump administration’s recent questions about the DOL fiduciary rule’s costs and legal liabilities mean it may survive without its best-interest contract exemption. So reports The Wall Street Journal.

In a legal brief this past week, the DOL told the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas that it doesn’t stand by the BICE, which allows investors to bring class-action suits against brokers who they say failed to act as fiduciaries.

Separately, in opening a new comment period on the rule and a potential delay of its Jan. 1 deadline for full compliance, the agency asked pointed questions to gauge costs to the financial-services industry.
(http://www.barrons.com)