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Image of a gavel on an open book and the words Fiduciary Rule, along with the logo of the US Dept. of Labor

Regulation and Compliance > Federal Regulation > DOL

DOL Releases Final Fiduciary Rule

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The Labor Department said Tuesday that it has finalized its new fiduciary rule — the Retirement Security Rule — “to protect the millions of workers who are saving for retirement diligently and rely on advice from trusted professionals on how to invest their savings.”

The final rule updates the definition of an investment advice fiduciary adopted in 1975 under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act and the Internal Revenue Code. It takes effect Sept. 23.

Related: DOL Fiduciary Rule: A Timeline

The rule, set to be published Thursday in the Federal Register, ”applies when trusted financial services providers give compensated investment advice to retirement plan participants, individual retirement account owners and plan officials responsible for administering plans and managing their assets,” Labor explained.

“Investors typically rely on financial professionals to navigate their way through a complex marketplace,” said Lisa Gomez, head of DOL’s Employee Benefits Security Administration, during a Tuesday morning call with reporters.

“But often investment professionals making the recommendations have significant conflicts of interest and often they have no obligation under the 1975 rule to act in the retirement investor’s best interest even though they hold themselves out as doing just that. That’s not right.”

Labor’s new rule “fixes the 1975 rule’s shortcomings,” she added.

The department stated that it has also amended related prohibited transaction class exemptions, or PTEs, that are available to investment advice fiduciaries, which includes PTE 2020-02 on rollovers and 84-24 on annuities.

While the new fiduciary rule and the amendments to the PTEs are effective on Sept. 23, 2024, there is a transition period under amended PTEs 2020-02 and 84-24.

As of Sept. 23, “the impartial conduct standards and fiduciary acknowledgment are applicable conditions for relief under the exemptions,” Labor states. The remaining conditions go into effect on Sept. 23, 2025, Labor explained.

“Under the new rule, if you hold yourself out as giving indivualized advice that the investor can rely upon to advance their best interest, then that’s what you must do…,” Gomez said. “That means your advice should adhere to a professional standard of care, put the retirement investor first, and be free from misstatements and overcharges.”

She called the rule “a major step forward.”

(Credit: Chris Nicholls/ALM; Adobe Stock)


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