If one follows the recent onslaught of articles and blogs, Donald Trump’s election to the presidency has placed a target squarely on the back of a Department of Labor (DOL) rule that imposes a fiduciary standard on those who provide investment advice in connection with employer retirement plans and Individual Retirement Accounts (IRA). Yet reports of the rule’s demise may be premature. Whether its death knell is sounded depends on how the new administration chooses to navigate certain political, legislative, and regulatory obstacles.
Fiduciary Rule
The DOL issued the final rule on April 6, 2016, as part of the Obama administration’s aggressive, consumer-oriented regulatory platform, setting an initial rollout date of April 10, 2017. In essence, the rule requires broker-dealers to either agree to act as fiduciaries when advising investors with regard to retirement accounts, or move away from certain fee structures, including those that are commission-based, for such services.
