Trump Presidency Will Impact Providers’ Fiduciary Rule Response

Plansponsor.com
November 14, 2016

“Bearing in mind that anything is possible, the most likely scenario we see is that the Department of Labor (DOL) fiduciary rule will move forward on its current schedule with implementation on April 10, 2017,” says Duane Thompson, senior policy analyst at fi360.

Joining a chorus of firms to share preliminary commentary with PLANSPONSOR, Thompson predicts that the Republican President-elect Donald Trump “may not even have a DOL secretary, or assistant secretary that runs the Employee Benefits Security Administration, nominated or approved by the Senate by April 10.”

Thompson further suggests it is “certainly possible” that when the new DOL secretary comes in, since the Best Interest Contract Exemption (BICE) and Principal Transaction requirements don’t take full effect until January 1, 2018, “this compliance deadline could be extended out.” In other words, it appears at least preliminary that there may be some relief coming on the strict contract and related recordkeeping requirements in the rulemaking. Read More.