News Release
Financial Planning Coalition: Four Years After Dodd-Frank, Uniform Fiduciary Standard Still Urgently Needed
“The Dodd-Frank Act was born out of the financial crisis, and one of its central goals was to protect American consumers against the excesses of the financial services industry. Yet, four years after Dodd-Frank’s passage, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has neither proposed nor adopted a uniform fiduciary standard – a fundamental and much-needed protection for American consumers who rely upon broker dealers for financial advice and information. Section 913 of Dodd-Frank granted the SEC the authority to extend this critical investor protection.
“To make matters worse for consumers, the U.S. House of Representatives recently approved an amendment to the FY 2015 budget that prohibits the SEC from using any of the appropriated funding to adopt a fiduciary standard. This amendment would guarantee investors remain exposed to significant and unjustifiable harm, including higher costs, poorer performance and substandard products too often not in the investor’s best interest.
“The Financial Planning Coalition urges the Senate to reject this anti-investor amendment – which guts an important part of Dodd-Frank – and renews its call for the SEC to protect investors by adopting a uniform fiduciary standard for broker-dealers that is no less stringent than the existing standard for investment advisers. Such a requirement is long overdue.”
Financial Planning Coalition research shows that American consumers want the federal government to play an active role in protecting investors, including through the adoption of a fiduciary standard. In fact, in response to a 2013 survey, 93 percent of respondents said that they agree with the statement that financial advisers providing advice “should put your interests ahead of theirs and should have to tell you upfront about any conflicts of interest that potentially could influence that advice” – the very definition of the fiduciary standard.
About the Financial Planning Coalition
The Financial Planning Coalition, a group representing nearly 80,000 stakeholders, is a collaboration of Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. (CFP Board), the Financial Planning Association® (FPA®) and the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA) formed to advise legislators and regulators on how to best protect consumers by ensuring financial planning services are delivered with fiduciary accountability and transparency. To learn more, please visit www.FinancialPlanningCoalition.com.
Contact: Carolyn Sofman, 202-585-2202, csofman@powelltate.com