The White House today announced that in the coming months, the Department of Labor will propose a new fiduciary rule that, according to the announcement, will:
- Expand the types of retirement investment advice subject to ERISA’s fiduciary standards.
- Continue to allow private firms to set their own compensation practices by proposing a new type of exemption from limits on payments creating conflicts of interest that is more principles-based than the current rules. The exemption will still permit many common forms of compensation, such as commissions and revenue sharing, whether paid by the client or the investment firm.
- Allow advisers to continue to provide general education on retirement saving across employer-sponsored plans and IRAs without triggering fiduciary duties.
The DOL will issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in the coming months. Then there will be a comment period before the final rule is issued.
