“It was curious but not surprising to see a group supporting the rule threatening to sue since those opposed are also suing, hoping to delay or appeal the regulation,” says Renetzky, who adds he thinks the delay is appropriate given the reasons stated by the DOL.
“They need the time to determine if the DOL fiduciary rule is actually designed to do more beneficial things for retirement investors or create harm,” he notes. “I think that’s a significant issue and appropriate for regulators to take the time they need to make that determination.”
Some securities attorneys and industry executives remain unconvinced that the DOL is the right regulator to create fiduciary rules.
“In an ideal world, I do have a strong view that we don’t need a separate set of rules for retirement investors,” Renetzky says. “Adding an overlay set of rules that applies to some clients of firms and not to others is complicated, confusing and at end of day not likely to help the consumers it was intended to help. When we talk about rules establishing duty of care as a fiduciary, the SEC or FINRA are the proper regulators to establish these regulations.”