Advisors' Top Concern Is Regulatory Changes

Advisors are of one mind in their concern over regulation, but they’re of several different minds when it comes to a level playing field for a fiduciary standard. Those are some of the key findings of a recent telephone survey of 503 RIAs conducted in mid-May by Maritz Inc. on behalf of TD Ameritrade Institutional (not all respondents custody with TD Ameritrade).

Not surprisingly as the Obama Administration, Congress, and regulators are floating ideas for major reform of financial services regulation, the survey found that regulatory changes and the macro-economic environment were respondents’ top concerns (34% and 31%), along with profitability (27%). Also not surprising for RIAs, two-thirds of respondents said they’d like to see a fiduciary standard applied to brokers, but there was wide disagreement on what that standard should be: 36% said the current RIA standard should be applied to registered representatives; 29% said SIFMA’s proposed Principles of Fair Dealing should be applied, and 25% said the current suitability standard for brokers should be maintained.