Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton said Thursday that the agency is seeking comment on a laundry list of issues to inform "possible future actions" by the agency on a fiduciary duty rulemaking.
Noting Labor Secretary R. Alexander Acosta's recent announcement that Labor's June 9 compliance date will move forward, Clayton said that the rule "may have significant effects on retail investors and entities regulated by the SEC," as well as "broader effects on our capital markets. Many of these matters fall within the SEC's mission of protecting investors; maintaining fair, orderly, and efficient markets; and facilitating capital formation."
Clayton said that he welcomes Labor's "invitation to engage constructively as the Commission moves forward with its examination of the standards of conduct applicable to investment advisers and broker-dealers, and related matters."
Added Clayton: "Given the significance of these issues — in particular, for retail investors looking to save for the things that matter most to them, including homeownership, education, and retirement — I look forward to robust, substantive input that will advance and inform the SEC's assessment of possible future actions."
The SEC, Clayton said, "has been reviewing this [fiduciary] area for some time," but significant developments in the marketplace have occurred since "the RAND study of investor perspectives was commissioned in 2006, the Dodd-Frank Act Section 913 staff study conducted in 2010-2011, and, most recently, a solicitation of data and other information in 2013."
Clayton pointed to a webform and e-mail box that are now available "for members of the public to make their views on these issues known publicly in advance of any future Commission action."
The comment period currently has no deadline, according to an SEC spokesperson.
