We would love to hear from you. Click on the ‘Contact Us’ link to the right and choose your favorite way to reach-out!

wscdsdc

media/speaking contact

Jamie Johnson

business contact

Victoria Peterson

Contact Us

855.ask.wink

Close [x]
pattern

Industry News

Categories

  • Industry Articles (21,155)
  • Industry Conferences (2)
  • Industry Job Openings (35)
  • Moore on the Market (414)
  • Negative Media (144)
  • Positive Media (73)
  • Sheryl's Articles (800)
  • Wink's Articles (353)
  • Wink's Inside Story (274)
  • Wink's Press Releases (123)
  • Blog Archives

  • March 2024
  • February 2024
  • January 2024
  • December 2023
  • November 2023
  • October 2023
  • September 2023
  • August 2023
  • July 2023
  • June 2023
  • May 2023
  • April 2023
  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • August 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • November 2008
  • September 2008
  • May 2008
  • February 2008
  • August 2006
  • Insurance Industry Reps Question Costs of DOL’s Proposed Fiduciary Rule

    August 13, 2015 by Frank Klimko, Washington correspondent, BestWeek: frank.klimko@ambest.com

    WASHINGTON – A proposed U.S. Department of Labor regulation overstates the benefits of tightening conflict of interest standards for retirement advisers while not recognizing that the new rules could cost investors up to $19 billion a year, insurance industry representatives said.

    “You are the agent of Leviathan,” Ron Bird, senior regulatory economist at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, told federal regulators. “A force for great good, but by its very hugeness, it brings forth great risk.”

    Bird made the literary reference to Thomas Hobbes’ 1651 book at an Aug. 11 hearing at the DOL over the department’s proposed conflict-of-interest fiduciary regulation. After receiving criticism, the DOL scheduled public hearings this week to possibly amend the rules. DOL Secretary Thomas Perez has promised the new comments will be considered before the final rule is drafted (Best’s News Service, July 21, 2015).

    Industry representatives at the hearing said the proposed rule would make it more difficult for middle-income Americans to plan for retirement. Bird advised the department to take a go-slow approach.

    “Small steps, incremental steps are very useful,” Bird said. “These marginal steps actually mimic what the market does and gives protection against unintended consequence.”

    Sean Collins, senior director of industry and financial analysts, Investment Company Institute, said the DOL’s regulatory impact analysis was deeply flawed. The ICI’s analysis of the rule’s impact shows that investors’ returns could be reduced by $1.1 billion the first year it is implemented. That total could rise to more than $11 billion a year over a decade from new additional fees that investors will pay to fee-based financial advisers. Factoring in additional costs, it is possible that annual losses to investors could mount to nearly $19 billion a year within 10 years, Collins said.

    Carl Wilkerson, American Council of Life Insurers’ vice president and chief counsel, securities and litigation, said the DOL erred by basing its analysis on old or flawed data from 15 to 20 years ago.

    “Fees and charges have fallen significantly since the data measured in the studies,” Wilkerson said. “The studies serve as a poor measure of the proposal’s benefits.”

    Wilkerson also noted that the retirement advice market is already highly regulated.

    “In calculating the proposal’s need, the RIA fully ignores comprehensive federal and state laws that directly protect retirement savers against the very abuses the rule seeks to rectify,” Wilkerson said.

    Nick Lane, chairman of the Insured Retirement Institute board of directors, asked the DOL to preserve important exceptions for times when advisers seek to educate consumers. The proposal impairs the ability of advisers and financial institutions to provide meaningful investment education because it excludes discussions of specific investment alternatives from the definition of investment education. IRI wants the DOL to retain current rules that allow discussions about investment alternatives. Lane is also senior executive director and head of U.S. life and retirement for Axa.

    However, there is substantial evidence that new fiduciary conflict-of-interest reforms are needed, said Antoinette Schoar, professor of finance, MIT Sloan School of Management. The school sent out “mystery shoppers” to make more than 250 financial adviser visits in the greater Boston and Cambridge area. They found that advisers who had fiduciary responsibility towards their clients provided better and less biased advice than those who were registered as brokers, she said.

    “The brokers seemed to reinforce erroneous beliefs about how the markets functions, especially if it was in their own self-interest to sell products at a higher costs,” she said.

    (By Frank Klimko, Washington correspondent, BestWeek: frank.klimko@ambest.com)

    Originally Posted at AM Best on August 11, 2015 by Frank Klimko, Washington correspondent, BestWeek: frank.klimko@ambest.com.

    Categories: Industry Articles
    currency