The Public Investors Arbitration Bar Association (PIABA), a group of lawyers that represents investors in disputes with the investment industry in the U.S., is calling on that country’s financial services industry to abandon its opposition to the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) fiduciary rule in the wake of a U.S. district court decision striking down an industry-led legal challenge.

A U.S. district court judge dismissed a lawsuit against the DOL fiduciary rule that was brought by the U.S. Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA), and various other industry groups on Feb. 8. In response to the ruling, SIFMA issued a statement indicating that it intends to continue opposing the rule.

“We continue to believe that the Department of Labor exceeded its authority, and we will pursue all of our available options to see that this rule is rescinded,” SIFMA says in its statement. “While we have long supported a best interest standard, this is a misguided rule that will harm retirement savers and financial services firms that provide needed assistance and options to their clients, including modest savers and small business employees.”

SIFMA adds that it lauds U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent order to the DOL to revisit the fiduciary rule before it’s finally adopted.

In contrast, the PIABA is calling on the industry to drop its opposition to the rule.

“The issues the DOL has been asked to consider in its review of the fiduciary rule have now been addressed in three federal court opinions, and the clear consensus is that the original rulemaking process was carried out properly. To have the DOL revisit these issues again, rather than advancing its efforts to implement and enforce the rule, is a waste of resources,” says Marnie Lambert, president of PIABA, in a statement.

“The investing public and the industry should have certainty moving forward. What is now certain is that that this is a good rule, a carefully crafted rule, and a rule capable of timely implementation by the industry,” she adds.

The PIABA argues that “brokers have created the impression that they are already fiduciaries” and says it’s time for the industry to adhere to the expectations it has created with investors.

“Conflicted investment advice harms investors every day. PIABA members have witnessed firsthand the devastating effects of this, seeing retirees forced to return to work making little more than minimum wage, and even dealing with clients attempting suicide after having lost their life savings to conflicted investment advice,” Lambert says. “That is a victimization of investors that can and must be stopped.”

In Canada, policymakers are also considering the introduction of a best interest standard for financial advice.