A new Senate bill would block attempts by the Securities and Exchange Commission to regulate the way advisors and brokers use artificial intelligence in advising investors.
The legislation, introduced by Senate Republicans Ted Cruz of Texas and Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, is directed at an SEC proposal that would require advisors and brokers to mitigate potential conflicts of interest when they use AI to nudge investors on investment decisions.
Under the SEC plan, firms would need to address conflicts of interest that may arise from their use of predictive data analytics and similar technologies. The rules are designed to prevent firms from placing their interests ahead of investors, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler said when the proposed rule was introduced in July.
But Cruz and Hagerty said today that the rule would deter the use of technology that has made investing more accessible and affordable for Americans.
The Senators’ legislation would prevent the rule, which is expected to be finalized in 2024, from going into effect. The bill would also prevent the SEC from proposing a similar rule.
“By waging a war on technology, the SEC would hurt the very investors that it claims to be protecting—Americans saving for retirement," Cruz said in a statement. "Our bill will halt this crusade in its tracks by making sure this rule never sees the light of day."
The crux of the bill would make it impossible for the SEC “to halt new technology that over the last decade has allowed more Americans to access the stock market than ever before,” Cruz added.
More than 13 industry trade groups have joined forces to lobby against the proposal. The group told the SEC in a September letter that the rules should be withdrawn because of serious flaws and an outstanding legal challenge to the SEC's authority to create such extensive rules currently pending in federal court.
The coalition, which includes the Financial Services Institute (FSI), the Insured Retirement Institute (IRI) and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said in a joint letter to Gensler in September that they are particularly concerned that for the first time the agency would require advisors and brokers dealers to eliminate rather than just disclose any conflicts arising from predictive analytics used in advice or content for investors.
The IRI is supporting the new bill, Wayne Chopus, the trade group’s president and CEO, said in a statement. “The SEC has offered no evidence to support this drastic overhaul of decades of effective regulation, which will deprive investors of access to essential and valuable resources without improving investor protection in any meaningful way,” he added.
The SEC did not immediately return a request for comment.