Published: April 2015

Financial advisor conflict-of-interest rule a win for consumers

Coalition: Save for our retirement

The Department of Labor released its conflict of interest proposed rule this week, which will be used to revamp the Employee Retirement Income Security Act's (ERISA) conflict of interest rules. The regulation would require advisors to put their clients' interests first and aims to protect unknowing customers from being put into high-cost, poorly performing investments that primarily benefit brokers and other financial advisors.

Too often, financial advisors are compensated through high fees or backdoor payments from mutual fund companies and other financial institutions without notifying their clients. The Department of Labor’s new conflict of interest proposed rule aims to protect Americans who are being proactive about saving for retirement. This rule would require any person who gets paid to provide investment advice to disclose any conflicts of interest and put their clients’ interests ahead of their own personal financial gains.

Other Organizations

AARP AFL-CIO AFSCME | Alliance for Retired Americans (ARA) | Americans for Financial Reform Better Markets | Center for Community Change Action Consumer Action | Consumer Federation of America Consumers Union | Demos | International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace & Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW) | The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights | NAACP | National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare National Council of La Raza (NCLR) | National Employment Lawyers Association National LGBTQ Task Force | National Organization for Women | National Women's Law Center | NETWORK, A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby Pension Rights Center | Personal Capital | Public Citizen | Public Investors Arbitration Bar Association | SumOfUs | The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) | The Committee for the Fiduciary Standard | U.S. PIRG | United Steel, Paper and Forestry, a Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union (USW) | Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO | Fund Democracy, Inc. | UNITEHERE! | Wider Opportunities for Women

More Information

For more information, please visit Americans for Financial Reform.

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Financial advisor conflict-of-interest rule a win for consumers   (DOLconflictofinterestletter.pdf)