Report: DOL to release fiduciary rule Tuesday

By John Hilton

The Department of Labor is set to release its long-awaited fiduciary rule on Tuesday afternoon, the American Retirement Association reported today.

Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su will announce the final regulation in a Treaty Room ceremony at 5 p.m., the ARA said.

Publication of the rule was expected after the White House Office of Management and Budget announced April 10 that it concluded its review of the rule. The review was the final big hurdle before the rule could be published in the Federal Register.

Fred Reish, partner with Faegre Drinker, is not expecting big changes with the final rule.

"The expectation is that there will be changes from the proposed regulation defining fiduciary status, as well as to the prohibited transaction exemptions, PTE 2020-02 and PTE 84-24," he said via email. "However the changes are expected to be relatively minor and the structure is expected to be the same.

"For example, the definition of fiduciary status will almost certainly continue to define fiduciary advice as one-time recommendations to retirement investors by investment professionals. 'Retirement investors' will include retirement plans, participants in those plans, and IRA owners. As a result, rollover recommendations will be considered to be fiduciary advice. 'Investment professionals' will include broker-dealers, investment advisers, banks and trust companies, and insurance agents and companies."

Released on Halloween, the DOL fiduciary proposal is the agency's fourth attempt at extending fiduciary duty to nearly all transactions involving retirement dollars. In 2018, a federal appeals court threw out the Obama administration's fiduciary rule. A three-judge panel ruled 2-1 that it went beyond the DOL's mandate from Congress to regulate workplace retirement plans.

The 2018 court decision examined the common law meaning of the word “fiduciary,” which requires a relationship of trust and confidence, and determined that Congress codified that common law meaning in the statutory text.

Industry trade associations are expected again to challenge the new rule in court. The preliminary version of the rule bans some compensation and forces producers into exemptions for other forms of payment.

InsuranceNewsNet Senior Editor John Hilton 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.