Adviser groups, financial firms keep cash flowing to congressional candidates

Election season is in full swing, with most attention Tuesday focused on New Hampshire, where the first primary of the presidential campaign will be held. But financial adviser interest groups and financial services firms are maintaining a steady pace of political contributions to congressional races throughout every two-year election cycle.
Adviser trade organizations that dominate lobbying expenditures also donate the most to political campaigns, generally focusing more on Congress than the presidential office. The National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors contributed $915,500 to congressional candidates last year, according to the Federal Election Commission.
The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association made $430,750 in donations, and the Financial Services Institute, which represents independent broker-dealers, contributed $115,000 to campaigns.

BIG SPENDERS
The biggest spender was the Investment Company Institute, which represents the mutual fund industry and contributed $1.1 million to races. The Insured Retirement Institute, a trade association for the annuity industry, registered $91,500 in campaign spending.
(More: Adviser groups step up lobbying as DOL rule nears completion)
The current election cycle began on Jan. 1, 2015, and will continue until Dec. 31 of this year. The groups’ level of giving puts them on a trajectory to at least match their 2014 election-cycle spending (which included 2013 and 2014).
For instance, NAIFA spent $2.5 million on campaigns in the last election, SIFMA donated $832,000 and FSI contributed $286,000. ICI shelled out $1.9 million in the last cycle, while IRI spent $139,300.
These numbers tower over spending by investment adviser groups. The Financial Planning Association contributed $42,000 to campaigns in 2015, while the Investment Adviser Association donated $18,000.

GOP MAJORITIES
Most of the political spending was directed toward Republicans, a result of the GOP majorities in the House and Senate. Interest groups and firms tend to divvy up their political donations in ratios of anywhere from 51% to 49% in favor of Republicans to ratios of 64%/36% and 70%/30%, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Interest groups are careful to spread around the campaign wealth. For instance, FSI donated $3,500 to Rep. Ann Wagner, R-Mo., a leading critic of a Labor Department rule that would change investment advice standards for retirement accounts, a measure FSI opposes.
But the organization also gave $1,000 to Gwen Moore, D-Wisc., who opposed Ms. Wagner’s bill to stop the DOL rule and $5,000 to Xavier Becerra, D-Calif., a member of the House Ways and Means Committee who opposed separate bills to halt the rule in a panel vote last week.
“We are very careful and thoughtful in how we give money to support various candidates,” FSI president and chief executive Dale Brown told reporters at the organization’s OneVoice conference in Orlando last month. “We support members of both parties.”
Political spending tends to focus on members of the House Financial Services and Ways and Means committees as well as the Senate Banking and Finance committees. Interest groups usually donate to incumbents, rather than challengers.
Individual firms also are weighing in forcefully with congressional campaign cash, with wirehouses spending the most. UBS donated $1.1 million last year, while Wells Fargo contributed $585,700, Bank of America doled out $530,500 and Morgan Stanley contributed $522,000.
A little farther down the scale, Fidelity Investments contributed $476,500, LPL Financial donated $253,500, the Charles Schwab Corp. contributed $186,000, Ameriprise gave $145,500 and Edward Jones spent $107,900. TD Ameritrade stands out with its relatively small donation of $9,000.
Interest group and corporate political action committees can give up to $5,000 to a candidate for their primary and general election campaigns for a maximum of $10,000 per election cycle.

Related Topics: Financial Planning Association (FPA), Financial Services Institute Inc. (FSI), Investment Company Institute (ICI), Securities Industry And Financial Markets Association (SIFMA)