In case you missed them the first time around, or would like to review them at your leisure, these are the most widely read stories on AdvisorOne.com for the month of January that focused on implementation of the Dodd-Frank reform law of 2010.
After six months of study, reported Washington Bureau Chief Melanie Waddell (left), the SEC told Congress on Jan. 21 that it would move forward in creating a new uniform fiduciary standard of care for broker-dealers and investment advisors when providing advice to retail customers. Most observers and advisor groups said the decision was a step in the right direction, but that the devil will be in the details as the SEC rulemaking process ensues.
In its much-anticipated report to Congress on the regulation of financial planning, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) told lawmakers on Jan. 18 that "an additional layer of regulation specific to financial planners does not appear to be warranted at this time."
In a three-part series on AdvisorOne, Wealth channel editor Kate McBride (left), a member of the Committee for the Fiduciary Standard, is charting the process under which the fiduciary standard became a central issue for advisors of all kinds. In part two, we discuss how financial services reform took a circuitous route that resulted in the compromise reform legislation that would come to be known as Dodd Frank.
Top Story #4:
SEC and the Fiduciary Study: The Process, Part I
By Kathleen McBride, AdvisorOne
When the SEC delivered to Congress on Jan. 21 its "Study Regarding Obligations of Brokers, Dealers, and Investment Advisers," mandated in the Dodd-Frank Act, it was the latest step in the long debate over whether the fiduciary standard should apply to all who provide investment and financial advice to individual investors. In this, the first of a three-part report, we timeline how extending the fiduciary standard to all advice givers has developed.
In his regularly appearing blog for AdvisorOne, the executive director of the Investment Adviser Association responded to the Dodd-Frank-mandated report on whether and how an SRO should be mandated for RIAs. His conclusions? Congressional hearings on an SRO are likely, and he notes the strong case made in the GAO report for user fees for advisors to better fund the SEC itself.
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