Executive Summary of the DOL Fiduciary Rule Proposal
April 15, 2015The DOL has finally come out with it's anticipated conflicts of interest rule proposal, also known as the Fiduciary Rule. The rule seeks to expand the definition of fiduciary advice to include more advisors and to crack down on conflicts of interest by advisors. Between the rule and the prohibited transaction exemptions, there are over 400 pages of documents associated with the release. For your convenience, we've prepared an executive summary to help you understand how this may affect your business. We anticipate this release to have wide-spread implications throughout the financial services industry, so it is relevant to all advisers. If you advise on IRAs or if IRA rollovers are part of your business model and you are not yet an ERISA fiduciary, this release is particularly relevant to you.
Included in the executive summary:
- An overview of the rule proposal, including its purpose and expected path to becoming an adopted rule.
- An explanation of how the definition of who is a fiduciary under ERISA will change.
- A summary of the seven activities that have been exempted from fiduciary status.
- A look at the most notable prohibited transaction exemptions.
fi360 will continue to keep you updated on this rule, how it affects advisors, and what you need to be doing to prepare yourself for providing advice and conducting business once this rule takes affect.
