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May 05, 2014 at 08:00 AM
Regulators are always prominent on the IA 25 and likely always will be. After all, who’s more influential than the people crafting the laws advisors and brokers have to work by?
Indeed, regulation has been a top concern for advisors and their partners for many years. That makes the work of advocates like Knut Rostad or Skip Schweiss all the more important, as the industry looks for a conclusion to regulatory uncertainty.
Click through the following slides to learn more about the regulators and advocates affecting the industry. Check out the full schedule of all our upcoming IA 25 content here.
Mary Jo WhiteChairwoman, Securities and Exchange Commission
Brokers are still waiting to hear if they will be put under a fiduciary mandate similar to the one advisors abide by, and White has said that this is the year the waiting will end.
“There are a number of ways” to impose a uniform standard, she told Washington Bureau Chief Melanie Waddell in April for the IA 25, however, she said she’s still compiling a list of possible options from SEC staff.
The priority, she said, “is to get those [staff] recommendations before the commission on what I consider to be a very high priority issue for investors.”
White said she believes investors do not understand the difference between a broker and an advisor. “I think the data certainly shows that, that there is that investor confusion,” she said.
(Photo: Getty Images)
Andrew CeresneyDirector, SEC Enforcement Division
Ceresney says keeping up with the increased complexity of wrongdoing is among the biggest challenges for the enforcement division at the SEC.
“Over time as matters have become more complex, we’ve been bringing on more industry experts, and we’ve gotten smarter about using technology,” he told Washington Bureau Chief Melanie Waddell in April for the IA 25.
He said the SEC is litigating more cases than it has in the past, but acknowledged that the funding boost proposed in President Barack Obama’s 2015 budget would allow the agency to take up more complex cases.
Thomas PerezLabor Secretary, Department of Labor
Since he was confirmed in July 2013, Perez has slowed down the DOL’s move to repropose a definition of fiduciary under ERISA in order to gather more input from lawmakers and others in the industry.
We were unable to speak with Perez, but Knut Rostad, president of the Institute for the Fiduciary Standard, told Melanie Waddell that Perez “spoke to pro-fiduciary groups and started his rounds on the Hill to hear the concerns of lawmakers directly” as soon as he took office.
Perez acknowledged in a mid-April Senate Appropriations subcommittee that DOL has “been engaged in a significant amount of outreach” in order to “listen and learn from everyone.”
Barbara Roper
Knut Rostad
Skip Schweiss
Janet Yellen