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Posts Tagged ‘Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association’

SEC Fiduciary Standard Study Answers Few Questions

Posted by William Byrnes on March 13, 2011


The SEC has finally released its anxiously awaited study of whether a fiduciary standard of care should be applied to broker-dealers; but, like the study on adviser examinations, the report leaves as many questions as it answers. The fiduciary standard study recommends that brokers be held to the same standard as register investment advisers (RIAs).  Although the study doesn’t provide details on how the switch to the fiduciary standard will be implemented, there are hints as to what brokers can expect.

Read this complete analysis of the impact at AdvisorFX (sign up for a free trial subscription with full access to all of the planning libraries and client presentations if you are not already a subscriber).

For previous coverage of the fiduciary standard in Advisor’s Journal, see Study Finds that Universal Fiduciary Standard Will Hurt Investors (CC 10-97) and What You Don’t Know Yet Might Hurt You: A Broker’s Duties under the Financial Reform Act (CC 10 40).  Comments are welcome below.

 

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Study Finds that Universal Fiduciary Standard Will Hurt Investors

Posted by William Byrnes on December 6, 2010


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The Wall Street Reform Act1—signed into law by President Obama on July 21, 2010— grants the SEC the power to impose a fiduciary duty on broker-dealers. Although the SEC has not yet moved to apply the fiduciary standard—already applicable to registered investment advisors—to broker-dealers, both sides of the argument have made their voices heard, commissioning studies and sending volleys of comments to the SEC.

Holding broker-dealers to a higher standard would seem, at first glance, to be a positive for their customers.  But a November 1, 2010, Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) commissioned study calls into question whether applying a fiduciary standard of conduct to all brokerage activities would help investors.  Read this complete article at AdvisorFX (sign up for a free trial subscription with full access to all of the planning libraries and client presentations if you are not already a subscriber).

For previous coverage of the fiduciary standard of conduct in Advisor’s Journal, see What You Don’t Know Yet Might Hurt You: A Broker’s Duties under the Financial Reform Act (CC 10 40).

We invite your questions and comments by posting them below or by calling the Panel of Experts.

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