Department of Labor’s Fiduciary Rule 4.0 proposal

Read our initial analysis of the DOL’s October 31 Fiduciary Rule proposal to again redefine ERISA fiduciary “investment advice” and to remake the complex of ERISA exemptions allowing conflicted advice. In our assessment, the proposal is not “more narrowly tailored” than the vacated 2016 rule.

• As in the 2016 rule, the DOL would assume the role of universal “standard of conduct” regulator for the financial services industries and dictate practices for their relationships with retirement plans and IRAs.
• As in the 2016 rule, any individualized investment interaction between a financial services professional and a “retirement investor” would in the main be treated as fiduciary advice.
• As in the 2016 rule, an “investment advice” fiduciary would be permitted to give “conflicted advice” only under a narrowed set of exemptions that impose onerous conditions and threaten a private right of action for IRA owners.

 

Read our analysis

 

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