One critical component of the Regulation Best Interest is the customer relationship summary form, or “Form CRS,” which provides new and existing clients with detailed information about a firm’s products, fees, conflicts of interest, disciplinary history and more.
The SEC tackles this question and others in a new FAQ publication about the Regulation Best Interest rulemaking package, as does Morningstar in a new paper that examines the regulation’s impact on specific business models.
The self-regulatory organization says it will help members implement the SEC's sweeping new conflict of interest disclosure rules.
Under the SEC’s final regulations, Form CRS requires less prescribed wording relative to the proposed version, meaning firms may generally use their own wording to address required topics and will have more flexibility to provide information to investors.
Experts say the new SEC rules could allow brokers to encroach into the traditional territory of advisers without having to meet the same fiduciary standard of care.
The regulator is taking a disclosure-based approach
The committee says the SEC should explicitly explain that Regulation Best Interest is a fiduciary duty shared equally by advisers and broker/dealer to act in their customers’ best interest.