SIFMA says DOL fiduciary rule pertaining to IRA rollovers still too restrictive

The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association is concerned that the Labor Department’s new fiduciary rule will keep financial advisers from discussing specific investment options with investors who may want to move their assets into an individual retirement account.

Under the regulation released earlier this week, advisers will be considered fiduciaries just for suggesting a rollover into an IRA, according to Lisa Bleier, a SIFMA managing director and associate general counsel.

They’ll fall under the rule’s best-interest contract when discussing what specific investment options are available in an IRA, which may limit the discussion to general market categories such as large-cap stocks, Ms. Bleier said Friday during a press briefing on the rule proposed about a year ago by the Labor Department.

Regulation is a top priority for SIFMA, a lobbying group that advocates for large broker-dealers, as it continues to take a hard look at the final version released Wednesday to assess the impact it will have on financial advisers and investors who rely on them. The Labor Department’s rule requires advisers to act in the best interest of their clients when helping them with their retirement accounts.

It’s “exceedingly prescriptive,” Ken Bentsen, SIFMA’s president and chief executive officer, said during the press briefing.

He said firms will still be assessing the “quite voluminous and very complex” regulation even after they’re expected to be fully compliant in January 2018. There are more than 1,000 pages to the rule when printed from the DOL’s website and 275 pages when viewed in the Federal Register, according to SIFMA.

Sifma remains concerned about “the potential negative consequences for investors,” including cost and how much choice they have in trying to save for their retirements, Mr. Bentsen said.