FSI Celebrates 20 Years of Results

It’s been 20 years since FSI launched as the voice for the independent financial services community with a voice. Despite no shortage of adversity, we are proud to say that we’ve accomplished a great deal over the past two decades.

Indeed, our resilience and relentless approach to advocacy have led to several crucial victories and improvements to the U.S. regulatory landscape, benefitting independent firms, advisors and the Main Street investors they serve.

Of course, none of this would be possible without our members’ contributions and unwavering support. As a growing collective of fearless citizen advocates, you have complemented our efforts enormously and continue to be the driving force behind FSI’s mission.

Going forward, we are excited to build on our progress together and remain committed to our philosophy of constructive engagement with lawmakers and regulators at the state and federal levels.

But before peering too far into the future, we’d like to celebrate this milestone and look back on our accomplishments, tracking FSI from our initial founding in 2004 to where we are today.

2004-2009: The Journey Begins

2004. Recognizing the urgent need for effective advocacy to combat a culture of increasingly burdensome regulations on the independent sector, Dale Brown founds FSI at the Financial Planning Association’s (FPA) annual broker-dealer conference. Tony Batman, Founder and CEO of 1st Global, serves as the organization’s first Board Chair. We hold a Public Policy Day shortly after our founding, beginning a long tradition of organized policy education and advocacy for independent financial services firms and advisors.

2005. FSI kicks into gear, officially launching its Financial Advisor membership program and forming FSI PAC, a critical fund to empower candidates who understand and share our mission of preserving Main Street Americans’ access to financial advice, products and services and advancing our industry. Additionally, FSI holds and rebrands its annual conference as OneVoice and publishes the FSIVoice newsletter.

2006. New Financial Advisor members witness FSI advocacy in action as they attend Public Policy Day for the first time. Meanwhile, FSI’s accelerating growth leads to the opening of an Atlanta office.

2007. FSI announces Joe Russo and Dan Anderson as the first Financial Advisors to serve on the FSI Board.

2008. Based on its position regarding the SEC’s proposed changes to Regulation S-P and their potential impacts on independent broker-dealers and their clients, FSI obtains support from the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA), the oldest international organization dedicated to investor protection.

2009. Marking five years of continued momentum, FSI addresses several hurdles our members face. This includes tackling key issues, like the preservation of 12b-1 fees and protecting advisors’ independent contractor status.

2010-2015: Amplified Voices

2010. FSI relocates our headquarters to Washington, D.C. and Mari Buechner is the first female elected as Board Chair. Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issues its original Fiduciary Rule proposal. The move foreshadows FSI’s years-long involvement in preventing similar DOL proposals from becoming law.

2011. FSI Chair Bill Dwyer testifies before Congress on the Dodd-Frank Act, opposing its implementation and highlighting its potential to negatively impact independent financial services firms, advisors and Main Street investors.

2012. Joe Russo becomes the first financial advisor to serve as FSI Board Chair. FSI President and CEO Dale Brown testifies before the House Financial Services Committee on FINRA and the benefits of a self-regulatory organization (SRO) for investment advisers.

2013. FSI holds the first Financial Advisor Summit, a one-of-a-kind conference developed for and by financial advisors. The conference features a number of high-profile speakers from both the public and private sectors. The organization releases its “Selling Independence” marketing materials available exclusively for FSI members.

2014. While celebrating our 10th anniversary, FSI launches the CoveredAdvisor Benefits Program, providing affordable access to large group and individual insurance coverage, including accident, disability, term life/AD&D and critical illness.

2015. After the DOL re-proposes its Fiduciary Rule, wealth manager and FSI Board Member Dean Harmon testifies before the Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions Subcommittee, pointing out the proposal’s myriad flaws and reiterating FSI’s opposition to the proposal.

2016-2019: FSI vs. DOL’s Fiduciary Rule (and Other Victories)

2016. FSI and a coalition of like-minded organizations file a lawsuit challenging the DOL’s Fiduciary Rule, again arguing that the rule was unworkable and limits Main Street Americans’ access to financial advice and investment opportunities. Later, Oxford Economics released the first edition of “The Economic Impact of FSI’s Members,” a study highlighting the $48 billion U.S. GDP contribution of FSI advisors and member firms in 2015.

2017. David Knoch, President of 1st Global, testifies before the House Financial Services Committee on behalf of FSI regarding the DOL’s Fiduciary Rule and its impact on independent financial services firms. After the district court ruled in the DOL’s favor, FSI and our coalition partners appeal the decision.

2018. After reviewing the appeal, the court sides with FSI and our coalition, effectively vacating the DOL’s Fiduciary Rule. Later, we achieve another victory after the Senior Safe Act becomes law, providing financial institutions with much-needed protection against lawsuits for reporting the financial exploitation of senior citizens.

2019. FSI wins a carve-out for independent financial advisors in AB 5, California’s strict law detailing independent contractor criteria. We also play a critical role in getting the SECURE Act passed. The bill dramatically enhances the ability of small businesses to offer retirement plans and incentivizes employee participation.

2020-2023: HOLDING OUR GROUND

2020. The SEC officially adopts Regulation Best Interest (Reg BI). FSI expressed support for it, believing it offered enhanced investor protections and preserved access to financial advice. Restricted but undeterred by the pandemic, FSI holds its annual FSI Forum & Capitol Hill Day virtually. We announce the inaugural Advocacy Circle of Excellence and Stephen R. Kareta Excellence in Advocacy Award, recognizing notable member contributions.

2021. FSI files a legal challenge against the DOL for their sudden withdrawal of the 2021 Independent Contractor rule, citing the move as a violation of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and noting its potential negative impacts on independent financial advisors.

2022. FSI wins the legal challenge, with a court overturning the DOL’s withdrawal of the 2021 Independent Contractor rule. Additionally, FSI successfully stops the PRO Act from passing in Congress, which similarly threatened to jeopardize the independent contractor classification of financial advisors nationwide.

2023. Fresh off of another string of victories, FSI continues on our well-established path of education and advocacy, partnering with Broadridge on a series of video guides that bring clarity to Form CRS. To cap off the year, FSI partners with the Association of African American Financial Advisors (AAAA) to increase diversity and representation across the independent financial services sector.

This is Only the Beginning

Needless to say, FSI has experienced and accomplished quite a bit in the past 20 years. With the help of our valued members, we have seen ourselves grow into the most influential advocacy organization serving the independent financial services community.

Of course, it’s important to remember that there are a number of challenges on the horizon, both known and unknown. But having established a blueprint for success and cultivated a network of advisors to help us execute it, we can safely say that after two decades of service, this is still only the beginning of our journey.