DOL fiduciary rule puts broker-dealers in Catch 22
August 10, 2015 by Nick Thornton
For all of the arguments raised by the Department of Labor’s proposed conflict-of-interest rule — 938 formal comments have been posted online, the preponderance in opposition to the rule — the most obvious, and perhaps most damaging to opponents of the rule, has yet to be fleshed out, according to one RIA.
Not even the DOL has pointed out what Michael Kitces thinks ultimately proves the incoherence of the broker-dealer industry’s core argument — that requiring all brokers to act as fiduciaries will prevent them from offering advisory services to low and middle-income savers.
The catch to that argument from Kitces’ perspective: Brokers are not now advisors, nor can they legally put themselves out as advisors, so how can the DOL’s rule prevent them from offering what they now can’t legally offer? Click HERE to read more…