Amidst the furor over the House and Senate agreeing to a compromise on the financial services reform bill on June 25, industry officials are also applauding the Senate and House conferees’ deal on fiduciary duty. Under the agreed upon language, the SEC will have six months to conduct a study of advisor and broker obligations toward retail customers.
Once that study is complete, the SEC has been given the rulemaking authority to put brokers under the same fiduciary standard of care that applies to investment advisors.