Timing of SEC’s Fiduciary Rule Debated at CFA Conference (AdvisorOne)

The timing of the SEC’s proposed fiduciary rule continues to be debated, although most insiders feel confident that it will happen. David Tittsworth, executive director of the Investment Adviser Association in Washington, has predicted the SEC will release a fiduciary rule proposal in the first quarter of 2012. Others are more vague due to a host of obstacles, including complaints from a small portion of the broker-dealer community — those who are “dependent on variable annuity sales,” says Barbara Roper, director of investor protection for CFA — who say they will challenge a fiduciary rule proposal in court. Other points of contention: compensation and questions stemming from the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.