DOL Denies Request to Extend Fiduciary Rule Comment Period

Eighteen financial services trade groups pressed the department on Nov. 8 to extend the 60-day comment period on its new fiduciary rule, the Retirement Security Rule, and amendments to the prohibited transaction exemptions, as the plan “makes significant and unanticipated changes to the current regulatory framework.”

EBSA, Gomez told SIFMA, “remains committed to receiving public comments and looks forward to the hearing, which will be held virtually,” beginning on Dec. 12.

Additionally, Gomez said, “one benefit of holding the public hearing before the comment period closes is that the testimony will inform the comments EBSA receives. EBSA encourages all interested parties to testify, watch the virtual hearing, and respond to, clarify, and emphasize points that are made during the hearing when submitting their comments” by the January deadline.

Lisa Bleier, managing director and associate general counsel at SIFMA, told ThinkAdvisor Wednesday in a statement that SIFMA is “very disappointed that the Department did not provide an extension of time to comment since the Department has had several years to work on this new proposal, yet they have given us only 39 business days to comment.”

Labor’s proposal, Bleier said, “could fundamentally alter how individual retirement savers get access to advice, while possibly creating multiple standards and confusion for investors. This proposal requires careful review and consideration — and the Department rushing the process will only harm individual investors.”

Wayne Chopus, president and CEO of the Insured Retirement Institute in Washington, said Wednesday in a statement that “the Biden Administration’s rejection of a reasonable request to extend the time for all interested stakeholders to comment on a proposed rule that we know will cause harm to millions of retirement savers is disconcerting and frustrating. Equally unsettling is the decision to move a public hearing date ahead by nearly a week.”

The Dec. 12 hearing, Chopus continued, is also “the fifth day of Hanukkah. Public hearings are typically held after an agency receives comments, with additional time for stakeholders to append their input after the hearing.”