Happy Friday, readers! Another fast-paced week of news on was dominated by discussion of the future of the DOL fiduciary rule—and yet there is only a little more certainty now than we had on Monday. Following a court victory for the rulemaking in Texas, the latest development is that DOL submitted paperwork to the OMB to commence its own regulatory review related to the fiduciary rule, as ordered by the newly installed president. The content of the paperwork is not yet public, but rumors are swirling that a 180-day delay is being sought. Get all the latest industry insights below.
A Texas district court judge has rejected industry arguments that the DOL exceeded its authority in crafting the forthcoming fiduciary rule—what this spells for the regulation’s future under the Trump administration is unclear.
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The latest results of the Fidelity Advisor Investment Pulse survey show advisers continue to focus on implementation of new fiduciary controls across different elements of their practices.
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Their concerns are that small businesses will be discouraged from offering retirement plans to employees, and that employees put into state-run plans will not have the protections of ERISA and will have limited control over their retirement savings.
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A new publication from the SEC outlines the five most frequent compliance topics identified in deficiency letters sent to SEC-registered investment advisers.
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Surveys and anecdotal evidence suggest plan sponsors are shortening their plan’s vesting periods, but there remains disagreement in the industry about whether vesting schedules may in fact disappear.
The short answer is that more financial services firms are looking at their wealth management divisions as drivers of growth; the long answer is a lot more complicated.
Nineteen Republican state attorneys general signed a letter to BlackRock seeking ‘clarification on actions that appear to have been motivated by interests other than maximizing financial return.’
An individual in Ohio was recently indicted by a grand jury on charges that he fraudulently claimed the assets he withdrew from his retirement account would be used to purchase a primary residence and to pay medical expenses.
