Regulators, investors and planning professionals in the United States are calling on the U.S. Senate Banking Committee to follow through on plans to impose a fiduciary duty on all providers of investment advice.

In a letter to members of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, seven organizations (the Consumer Federation of America, the North American Securities Administrators Association, Fund Democracy, the Investment Adviser Association, Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc., the Financial Planning Association and the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors) expressed their strong support for a provision in the Senate’s draft regulatory reform bill that would require all those who offer investment advice to be held to the highest standard of care to their clients — fiduciary duty.

They noted that the bill would impose a fiduciary duty on all providers of investment advice “in a straightforward and sensible fashion by eliminating the broker-dealer exclusion from the (Investment Advisers) Act.” The broker-dealer exemption allows brokers to avoid registering as advisers if the advice they provide to clients is “solely incidental” to selling securities.

“For too long, brokers have been free to market themselves as trusted advisors and offer extensive advisory services without having to meet the fiduciary standard appropriate to that role,” the organizations said. The draft bill “eliminates the legislative loophole that has allowed this dual standard to persist.” they said.

“Unfortunately, some in the industry who have for years actively marketed themselves to investors as trusted advisers are resisting regulation as advisors,” they added.

The organizations urged the Senate to resist efforts to undermine consumer protections in the proposed legislation, and they aimed to rebut arguments over the Senate bill’s proposed fiduciary requirement. The groups maintained that investors will only benefit from the fiduciary provision of the Senate draft bill “if Congress resists efforts to scale back and water down critical protections provided by the legislation, efforts that have been advanced through a campaign of misinformation and mischaracterization. We urge you to stand up for investors by standing up to those who would undermine these important investor protections,” they concluded.

IE