Finseca CEO Pans New DOL Fiduciary Regs, Sketches Litigation Path
Labor's attempts to address the insurance industry's concerns were merely "cosmetic," Marc Cadin says.
Marc Cadin, the chief executive officer at Finseca, said he and colleagues at the financial services professional group have now read the Labor Department’s new final investment advice fiduciary rule definition carefully enough to know for certain that they still hate it.
Department officials seem to think that they addressed many life and annuity sector player complaints about the draft posted in October 2023, by, for example, exempting general sales pitches and investor education presentations and emphasizing that a fiduciary obligation affects only people and companies that regularly make investment recommendations to retirement savers.
Although the department has made changes, “I would characterize those as cosmetic,” Cadin said Wednesday in an interview.
Finseca continues to believe that the Labor Department’s drafting process and public comment process were rushed and inadequate, as was the White House Office of Management and Budget regulatory impact review process, Cadin said.
He repeated earlier comments about how shocked he was that department and impact review team members failed to ask any questions about Finseca’s views during teleconference and web conference meetings.
“They’re not really looking to get stakeholder input,” he said. “They just believe they know what the answer is.”
Litigation: Cadin also talked about how Finseca and other groups are likely to attack the final rule and related Labor Department regulatory documents in court.
The groups will have to analyze the documents in detail, then get board approval to pursue litigation, he said.
He expects the American Council of Life Insurers to lead a coalition of industry groups that will oversee the litigation effort.
“I expect it to move expeditiously,” he said.
Marc Cadin. Photo: Finseca