FSI Responds to Release of DOL’s Final Retirement Security Rule

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Department of Labor (DOL) released its final Retirement Security Rule. This marks the latest development in DOL’s 13-year-long attempt to adopt fiduciary and conflict of interest rules. In 2018, FSI was a plaintiff in the successful litigation in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which vacated the Department’s previous attempt at promulgating a fiduciary rule. 

Below is a comment from FSI President and CEO Dale Brown:  

“We are carefully reviewing and analyzing the rule, however, we remain concerned that the final rule will have a negative impact on Main Street Americans’ access to financial advice as they attempt save for a dignified retirement. Our members already adhere to an extensive regulatory regime, including the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Regulation Best Interest (Reg BI), and the DOL’s existing PTE 2020-02. We are concerned that the new rule will limit retirement savers’ access to professional financial advice, products and services offered by independent financial advisors and firms and create a more complicated, burdensome and costly regulatory environment. 

“In addition, the abnormally rapid pace of this rulemaking raises additional concerns. With the quick turnaround between the comment period deadline and the final rule release, we question whether the DOL could adequately assess and address the comments raised during an already abbreviated comment period.” 

In January, FSI submitted a comment letter to DOL outlining the organization’s concerns with the proposed rule. Additionally, a study conducted by FSI and Oxford Economics found that the proposed rule would result in over $2.5 billion in costs and 120 million pieces of paper annually. 

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