Fiduciary September 2015

Welcome to Fiduciary September. The Institute celebrates Fiduciary September to highlight the indispensable role fiduciary principles serve in preserving trust and confidence in our capital markets. It includes:

• • Urging Congress and the SEC to apply the fiduciary standard and the six core fiduciary duties to all professionals rendering investment advice.
  • Urging industry participants to embrace fiduciary duties when investment advice is rendered.
  • Educating investors about the sharp differences between fiduciary advisors and sales brokers.

 

News

• September 30, 2015 – Fiduciary Best Practices Briefing (Invitation)
  The Institute releases a finalized version of Best Practices, while industry leaders provide a timely, insider’s perspective on how Best Practices fit into the ongoing fiduciary debate.

• September 30, 2015 – Remarks of Knut A. Rostad Release of the Best Practices for Financial Advisors (Transcript)
  In association with NAPFA, the Institute releases its Best Practices for Financial Advisors. Rostad explains why the industry and investors need Best Practices, and calls on Merrill Lynch to lead the brokerage industry by embracing them.

• September 23, 2015 – Survey of Brokers and Advisers Reveals Support for DOL COI BICE Requirements, Even if they’re “Burdensome” (News Release)
  A WealthManagement.com and Institute survey demonstrates that brokers support key aspect of the Department of Labor’s COI BICE requirements, despite saying they are difficult and burdensome to implement.

• September 2015 –  DOL Conflict of Interest Rule Survey (Results)
  Survey Highlights (PowerPoint Presentation)

• September 8, 2015 – Fiduciary September 2015: Conference Call September 10th on Best Practices (News Release)
  Institute board members consider final edits to the Best Practices and discuss several key issues the practices have raised in deliberations with members of the media, advisors, and brokers.

• September 8, 2015 – SEC Commissioners Luis A. Aguilar’s and Daniel M. Gallagher on Fiduciary Duty (Paper)
  Two SEC Commissioners will soon depart the SEC at a time of unprecedented focus on fiduciary duties. Commissioner Aguilar and Commissioner Gallagher have sharply different visions of those duties, as is evident in their statements.

• September 2, 2015 – Fiduciary September 2015 Underscores Historic Time for Fiduciary Advice. (News Release)
  Fiduciary September 2015 is launched at “a moment in time as historic as 1940,” the birth of the Investment Advisors act. Scheduled events are outlined in detail.

• August 11, 2015 – TD Ameritrade Institutional to be Exclusive Sponsor of Institute’s Fiduciary September 2015 Program. (Press Release)

 

Media Coverage

• Investment News – October 4: Model fee disclosure misses mark
  Kudos to InvestmentNews. In this editorial, InvestmentNews expresses similar concerns to the Institute regarding the proposed fees disclosure.
• Investment News – October 4: As DOL fiduciary heats up, both sides dig in
  The battle over the Department of Labor proposal to raise investment advice standards for retirement accounts gets ugly between supporters and opponents.
• Financial Advisor – October 1: Best Practices By The Numbers
  Juliette Fairley analyzes and explains the Institute’s Best Practices while utilizing explanatory quotes from board members of the Institute.
• Wealth Management – Sept. 30: Institute Finalizes Fiduciary Guidelines for Advisors
  Megan Leonhardt discusses and contextualizes the Institute’s finalized Best
  Practices and what they mean for the industry.
• Wealth Management – Sept. 30: Bogle: Compromises to DOL Rule May Be Needed
  Jack Bogle, founder and former chairman of the Vanguard Group, says that he’s optimistic that a fiduciary standard for advisors will be passed, but compromising may be necessary to do so.
• Investment News – Sept. 28: State regulators, Finra, SIFMA propose fee disclosure model for brokers
  In this article about a proposed fee-disclosure requirement, Institute president, Knut Rostad, notes that the limited nature of only disclosing ‘”miscellaneous fees” could cause confusion and further distrust among investors.
• The Investment Lawyer – Sept. 17: Conflicts of Interest and the Duty of Loyalty at the Securities and Exchange Commission
  Institute president, Knut Rostad, uses the SEC’s views of conflicts of interest to underscore exactly why such benign views not only harm investors, but represent a fundamental departure from longstanding jurisprudence.
• MarketWatch – Sept. 14: Do Conflicts Put Retirement Investors at Risk?
  At a MarketWatch event, experts debate the DOL COI rule, and whether conflicts put retirement investors at risk.
• Think Advisor – Sept. 10: Fiduciary September: A Time for Client-Centered Advisors to Come Together
  In this article on why investors need advocates to challenge the financial system when their best interests go unserved, Bob Clark turns to the Institute’s Fiduciary September as a catalyst for bringing fiduciary advisors together to be those“advocates.”
• Huffington Post – Sept. 2: On The 75th Birthday Of The 1940 Act, A Reminder Of The F-Word’s Power
  The 75th anniversary of the legislation which brought the fiduciary standard to bear on the investment advisory industry seems a prudent time to remember why  such an act was necessary, and how it has never been more relevant than in the present.