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September 15, 2010 at 08:00 PM
WASHINGTON BUREAU — About 91% of U.S. investors say stockbrokers and investment advisors who provide the same kinds of advisory services should follow the same investor protection rules, according to sponsors of a recent survey.
The survey sponsors want the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to consider the idea of requiring financial professionals who give personalized investment advice to use a fiduciary standard of care, which would require the financial professionals’ to put clients’ interests ahead of their own.
The sponsors are AARP, Washington; the Consumer Federation of America (CFA), Washington; the North American Securities Administrators Association, Washington; 
and a number of planner and advisor groups — the Financial Planning Association, Denver; the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc., Washington; the Investment Adviser Association, Washington; and the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors, Arlington Heights, Ill.
A fiduciary standard provision in the new Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act has given the SEC 6 months to complete a study of gaps in the current standard-of-care regulations. After the SEC completes the study, it will have the authority to publish a standard-of-care regulation
A firm polled 1,319 investors for the survey sponsors in August. The survey sponsors say 96% of the survey participants said the fiduciary requirement should apply to insurance agents who sell investments.
