At a bare minimum, attorneys said, firms interested in ensuring that associated persons comply with the new CFP Board standards will want to address the following issues:

• The specific fiduciary duties owed to a CFP’s client, including the duty to avoid or fully disclose material conflicts of interest.
• Considerations for firms regarding how they should supervise the new standard.
• Enforcement of the new fiduciary standard.

Th CFP fiduciary standard should be straightforward for registered investment advisors, who are already held to a fiduciary standard under securities law and Securities and Exchange Commission regulation.

In contrast, registered representatives do not have a explicit fiduciary duty in regulation or law.

Under the CFP standards, however, brokers and dually-registered reps who are “a CFP will be required to act as a fiduciary and in the client’s best interest at all times. Among other things, the CFP will have to satisfy a duty of loyalty and a duty of care, which include an obligation to provide a significant amount of information not required by [the SEC's standard of conduct], an obligation to update this information and an obligation to provide ongoing monitoring and updates to financial plans, unless excluded from the scope of an engagement.” Eversheds Sutherland said.

Compliance with the SEC's Regulation Best Interest rules will not satisfy a CFP’s fiduciary duties under the CFP Board's new rules, Kirsch said.

In determining whether disclosure of a material conflict of interest to a client is sufficient ... the CFP Board will evaluate whether a reasonable client would have understood the conflict and how it could affect the advice provided by the CFP. Violations that depart from a CFP’s commonly accepted practices or cause potential harm will make it tougher for a professional or a firm to infer informed consent, Eversheds Sutherland said.

Additionally, the CFP Board has noted that ambiguity in disclosures will be interpreted in favor of the client.

Firms do not have a legal responsibility to enforce the CFP standards, which are primarily enforced by the CFP Board through its own internal disciplinary process, Eversheds Sutherland said.

Will the SEC or Finra enforce the CFP Board’s Code and Standards? The SEC and Finra “could bring a disciplinary action against a CFP professional alleging violations of Finra's ‘just and equitable’ principles rules for violations of the new Code or Standards,” the law firm said.