Reaction from various advisory industry groups reflected their previous positions on this issue. Both the Financial Planning Association and the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards issued statements that applauded the news and expressed their shared belief that all financial advisors who provide financial planning advice should abide by the fiduciary standard.
The Financial Services Institute, a trade group for independent advisors and broker-dealers which has maintained that imposing a fiduciary standard on all advisors could raise the cost of providing financial advice and price some smaller investors out of the market, responded with more reserve.
“We are eager to study the re-proposed rule and respond constructively,” FSI president and CEO Dale Brown said in a statement. “With the revelations last week that not all SEC Commissioners have been formally engaged by DOL, combined with the 200 bi-partisan, bi-cameral members of Congress who have weighed in over the last four years, we expect this process will take as long as necessary to ensure that any final rule avoids serious unintended consequences for Main Street investors.”
--FA Staff contributed to this article