Massachusetts Dealing With Flood Of Comments On Fiduciary Proposal

By John Hilton

Work continues on a fiduciary rule proposed by the Massachusetts Securities Division despite a late flood of comments from around the country.

The letter-writing campaign added to the rule opposition, which includes trade associations as well as Gov. Charlie Baker, R. A spokeswoman for Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin said a final rule could include changes, but nothing has been decided.

The Securities Division posted 227 comment letters last week, three weeks after the comment deadline. All of the comments were received before the Jan. 7 deadline, the spokeswoman said, but took time to post.

The comments came from around the country and many included this line: "I am concerned that if the proposed fiduciary duty is adopted it will have the unintended consequence of severely limiting access to high‐quality, individually‐tailored advice for many of my hard‐working clients in Massachusetts."

One letter received after the deadline came from state Rep. David F. DeCoste, R-Plymouth.

"These regulations, in my opinion and the opinion of dozens of constituents who are in the industry and have contacted me, will discourage savings and investment by making it more difficult for people with modest investment portfolios to engage professional investment advisors," he wrote in a Jan. 29 comment letter.

The proposal will impose a uniform fiduciary conduct standard on broker-dealers, agents, investment advisors and investment advisor representatives providing financial advice to any clients in Massachusetts.

If the rules become law, financial recommendations and advice must be based on “what is best for the customers and clients, without regard to the interests of the broker-dealer, advisory firm and its personnel," Galvin has said.

InsuranceNewsNet Senior Editor John Hilton has covered business and other beats in more than 20 years of daily journalism. John may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @INNJohnH.

InsuranceNewsNet Senior Editor John Hilton has covered business and other beats in more than 20 years of daily journalism. John may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @INNJohnH.