Maryland Senate Panel to Hold Hearing on Fiduciary Bill Thursday

The proposed Senate bill in Maryland “would ultimately limit investor access to affordable, professional financial advice and education through excessive cost and compliance burdens,” Bellaire said. “We look forward to continuing to work with the Maryland Senate to address these concerns.”

The Senate and House bills’ fiduciary provisions are the same and create a fiduciary status for broker-dealers, agents and investment advisors. Those persons, under the bills, have a “duty to care primarily for the benefit of [their] clients.” The measure requires disclosures of compensation and any material legal or disciplinary events, and requires inquiry of the financial circumstances and obligations of the client, both initially and at subsequent contacts. 

Andy Wagner, a state legislative policy analyst for Multistate Associates, who specializes in consumer finance legislation, told ThinkAdvisor that staffers of Sen. James Carew Rosapepe, a Democrat, who sponsored the bill, “have been communicating with the General Assembly and sponsor of H.B. 1634, and will likely agree to strike the same fiduciary provision at [today’s] committee hearing.”

The Maryland fiduciary bills “will move to subcommittee and continue to be amended, but for now the fiduciary provisions seem to be off the table.”