SIFMA AMG Objects to Imposition of Limits on Paying for Research with Commissions (with Lofchie Comment)

The Dealer Commissions Working Group of the Asset Management Group of SIFMA ("SIFMA AMG") submitted comments to the European Securities and Markets Authority ("ESMA") in response to questions about whether brokerage commissions generated by client accounts could be used to pay for investment research.

SIFMA AMG advocated strongly that it should be permissible for advisers to use customer commissions to pay for research.

Lofchie Comment: Although the proposed rules would be issued by a non-U.S. regulator, they would have significant impact on U.S. advisers and clients involved in non-U.S. transactions. (It isn't just swaps regulation that causes market participants to be affected increasingly by regulators globally.)

See: SIFMA AMG Comment Letter.