Massachusetts regulator blasts SEC’s Piwowar over fiduciary rule

Citing the “horrific financial abuses associated with conflicted advice in the area of retirement rollovers” in a letter to the Department of Labor, Massachusetts’ securities regulator William Galvin criticized recent comments by SEC Commissioner Michael Piwowar and reiterated his support for the DOL’s fiduciary rule.

“Retirees have been fodder for unscrupulous brokers for years upon leaving their place of employment and rolling-over their retirement assets,” wrote Secretary of the Commonwealth William F. Galvin, adding “I am therefore dismayed that a sitting SEC Commissioner would so forcefully join with industry to attack the rule. Business groups looking to capitalize on Piwowar’s comments are already using them to their advantage.”

In a recent letter to the Department of Labor, Commissioner Piwowar detailed his opposition to the fiduciary rule, which requires that providers of retirement financial advice act in the best interest of the client. The commissioner has advocated for disclosure as a solution to the problem of conflicted investment advice.