The American Council of Life Insurers ("ACLI") submitted a statement to the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Subcommittee criticizing the Department of Labor's proposed fiduciary duty rule. The ACLI statement was submitted at a Subcommittee hearing titled "Restricting Access to Financial Advice: Evaluating the Costs and Consequences for Working Families and Retirees." According to ACLI, the Department of Labor's proposed fiduciary rule will "restrict activities that encourage low-to-moderate-income Americans to save, stifle the formation of small business workplace benefit plans, and
News & Insights
SIFMA and numerous financial associations filed a complaint against the Department of Labor with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas. The complaint would strike down an "overreaching" DOL fiduciary rule.
Members from both parties of the U.S. House of Representatives called for a newly revised proposal of the DOL's fiduciary rule, and asserted that the current proposed rule would "greatly expand the regulatory definition of a 'fiduciary' under ERISA. In a letter to the Secretary of Labor, a bipartisan group of representatives asserted that the current proposal is "significantly different than the 2010 version," and that "there is a strong possibility that a final rule may widely differ in its substance from the initial proposal or contain provisions that were not part of the proposed regulation
Several Democratic Senators urged the Department of Labor ("DOL") to "ensure that rules related to retirement savings do not work at cross-purposes in a way that could limit investor access to education and increase costs for middle-class Americans." Senators Jon Tester (D-MT), Joe Donnelly (D-IN), Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), and Angus King (D-ME) submitted the letter regarding DOL's proposed changes to the ERISA definition of "fiduciary." The Senators expressed their concern that "the rule in its current form could stifle access to meaningful investment advice for millions of Main Street investors
In a letter to the Department of Labor, Democratic members of the Senate Finance Committee made numerous recommendations regarding the re-proposed regulations defining who is a fiduciary of an employee benefit plan or individual retirement plan under ERISA." The Senators recommended that the DOL: (i) clarify the "best interest contract ("BIC") exemption" by utilizing a more workable contract requirement and include listed options in the definition of assets; (ii) expand the capability of financial professionals to provide specific investment education on retirement plans; (iii) continue to