Financial industry observers are increasingly skeptical that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s planned proposal to require a uniform fiduciary standard for all financial advisers will become a reality this year, if ever.
The SEC said it would propose the rule, which would hold both fee-based financial advisers and commission-based brokers to the same fiduciary standard, during the second half of 2011. But that didn’t happen and earlier this month the agency said it was drafting a request to ask the public for more data in order to do a cost-benefit analysis of the proposal.
