An amendment put forth by Senator Patty Murray (D-Washington) to Senator Christopher Dodd's (D-Connecticut) financial services reform bill, which would include a state securities regulator on the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC), is getting support from Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Dodd.
But the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) and the Consumer Federation of America (CFA) are up in arms over an amendment to Dodd's bill introduced last week by Collins that would water down the fiduciary standard by extending a fiduciary duty to brokers, but exempting those that sell variable annuities.
Barbara Roper, director of investor protection for the CFA, said in a statement after the Collins fiduciary amendment was filed, that "This amendment removes the fiduciary duty precisely where it is needed most-where the conflicts of interest are greatest, the investors are least sophisticated, and the sales practices are most abusive. It paints a target on the backs of senior Americans who are most likely to be targeted with abusive variable annuity sales practices."
