As it celebrated its 10th anniversary in Washington, D.C. this week, the Financial Services Institute (FSI) announced its goals for 2014, including increasing the number of advisor members to 40,000 and broadening relationships between its staff and members of Congress. FSI CEO Dale Brown also said he expects no resolution of the RIA regulation question.

Brown noted that a proposal calling for Finra to regulate RIAs went nowhere last year. So did a proposal to have the SEC charge RIAs user fees to fund its continuing regulation of these financial professionals.

Brown noted that The FSI enjoyed an opportunity to broaden its coalition with a variety of groups representing different "Main Street" interests. In the ongoing battle with the Department of Labor over what level of fiduciary standards should be applied to regulation of IRAs and other qualified plans, the FSI has found partners in the Congressional Black and Hispanic Caucuses.

"They have the same Main Street financial concerns about a dignified retirement and being able to send their kids to college," Brown noted.

Regarding the Labor Department, Brown was uncertain how it would play out, though he noted none of these issues were on Congress's front burner during an election year. The FSI would view either no proposal or a "very narrowly defined" proposal" as victories.

With 37,000 advisor members, reaching the 40,000 number is achievable.

Regarding Finra, FSI officials indicated they hoped to iron out improvements in both the examination and arbitration systems which they said would benefit both consumers and advisors.

Another key issue for the FSI is "a permanent fix to the independent contractor issue." The organization has convinced members of both parties in Congress that the IRS may be "misclassifying" independent reps of broker-dealers as employees and is looking at a bill to attach a "carve out" that would permanently clarify their status as indepenendt contractors.