“Better Markets does a comprehensive wrap up on the Department of Labor’s marathon four-day hearing on its fiduciary standard proposal for retirement investment advisors. Current law allows brokers and other advisors to put their economic interests above the best interests of clients saving for retirement. The Department of Labor has proposed an updated rule that would end the conflicts of interest. The SEC has been working on its own version of a new rule to meet Dodd-Frank requirements that will establish a fiduciary standard for all retail investment advisors. Better Markets reports that the DOL is reopening the public comment period on its proposal, which will not close until two weeks after the transcripts from the public hearings are made available.

“The DOL hearings kicked off on Monday, with the President and Chief Executive Officer of Wall Street’s top lobby group Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association’s “offering”, according to Better Markets, to meet secretly with the agency to discuss the studies they have commissioned on the impact of the rule. Over the four days many industry, labor, retirement, consumer, and investor protection organizations testified. “Competition in a market where investors can’t distinguish the quality of the advice leads to a race to the bottom,” testified Antoinette Schoar, Professor of Finance, MIT Sloan School of Management..”

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Read the full MarketWatch article by Francine McKenna here.