“The Obama administration is moving forward with a plan that could bring a sea change to how retirement advisors must treat their clients, while financial industry-allies in Congress engage in another round of push back.

“The new rules for retirement advisors that the President and consumer advocates are pushing address a conflict of interest the White House estimates costs retirement savers $17 billion annually. The problem? Contrary to what many investors believe, the advisors who direct them to retirement funds are not always required to act in their clients’ best interests.”

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“The proposal from the Department of Labor would essentially require that financial advisors behave in their clients’ best interests when offering retirement investment advice, something that three-quarters of investment advice consumers assumed already was the case.

“It’s wrong, it’s been going on for a long time, most people don’t realize it is happening and the Department of Labor has created a rule that will address the problem,” Stephen Hall, a securities specialist at the investor advocacy group Better Markets, told TPM.”

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“The proposal itself was rolled out by the Department of Labor in April. Not surprisingly, the financial industry is fighting it tooth and nail, claiming the regulations will result in higher costs for investors.

“For a century, Wall Street’s ‘sky is falling’ predictions about regulations have never come true and they’re not going to happen this time,” Hall said. “The fact is the advisors fighting this rule are going to adjust to it, and if they don’t, a large and growing community of advisors will make sure that all Americans get financial advice at affordable fees.”

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Read the full Talking Points Memo article by Tierney Sneed here.