FSI poll: 90% of advisors oppose DOL fiduciary redraft

Independent advisors remain opposed to the Department of Labor’s pending rule to redefine the term fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, and they also predict that Republicans will gain control of the Senate in the upcoming midterm elections, according to a just-released poll by the Financial Services Institute.

The poll of 2,300 FSI members was released Wednesday and gauged advisors’ attitudes on the midterm elections as well as “critical industry issues” they face. When asked by FSI if they believed DOL should “redefine the definition of ‘fiduciary’ for financial advisors effectively banning the earning of commissions on IRA advice,” 90% of advisors said they were opposed to the DOL’s redraft. Ninety-one percent of advisors said they opposed the DOL redraft in FSI’s 2013 poll.

Industry officials recently told ThinkAdvisor that the White House’s National Economic Council will be performing “industry outreach” regarding DOL’s redraft, and that the NEC is part of a White House working group that’s focusing on DOL’s fiduciary rulemaking. The redraft release date has been pushed to January.

“Our independent financial advisor members have a unique vantage point on these issues as they work closely with Main Street American investors on a daily basis,” said Dale Brown, FSI’s president and CEO, in a statement. Advisor opposition to the DOL’s fiduciary proposal “has also held strong over the past year. We see no sign of complacency creeping in as the rule is postponed yet again.”