The Obama Administration is interested in reform that would remove some of the conflicts of interest that exist in the world of financial advice.
Financial planners, however, are concerned that these regulatory proposals which are intended to impose fiduciary obligations on all types of financial advisors may result in overall standards that are less stringent than what currently exists.
Current fiduciary standards apply to an advisory account and largely impact registered investment advisors (RIA).
Fiduciary standards do not apply to a brokerage account, and the concern is that lobbying efforts by the brokerage industry will result in a very watered-down version of the existing standard:
“There’s going to be a chasm between the current standard for registered investment advisers and what will apply to brokers,” said Bill Singer, a securities lawyer at New York- based Stark & Stark, who edits the Wall Street blog Broke and Broker. “I’m not sure we’re all talking about the same ‘F’ word.”
Source: Bloomberg
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