Advocates of a uniform standard based on the current standard applied to RIAs decry what they say are the inherent conflicts of interest in commission-based sales, and they espouse the purity of the fee-based model.

Thus, the debate smolders. 

At last year’s Gladstone conference, Brown predicted that the SEC would enact a uniform fiduciary standard of care by year-end 2014. Yesterday, he pushed that back to the end of 2015.

SRO

Also last year, Brown predicted the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority would continue to expand its regulatory reach into RIA oversight, setting the stage for Congress to authorize Finra as the self-regulatory organization (SRO) for RIAs. That's a notion FSI has endorsed in the past.

But that legislation has hit a brick wall in the face of little support and strong opposition from the RIA community and state regulators.

“Finra doesn’t have a lot of fans on Capitol Hill,” said Brown, adding that FSI has stepped back from its full support for Finra as the SRO of RIAs. “I don’t see any support growing in Congress for pursuing that legislation.”

CARDS

A recent wrinkle on the regulatory front has been Finra’s concept proposal from late 2013 regarding its Comprehensive Automated Risk Data System (CARDS), a program that would allow Finra to automatically collect data from clearing firms on account trading activity, as well as security identification information that firms maintain as part of their books and records.

Finra says the program would help it better identify risks and bolster compliance and supervisory programs, among other things. Others see it as a case of Big Brother gathering too much information and infringing upon investors’ privacy, along with raising concerns about data security.