This is an extended version of the profile that appeared in the May issue of Investment Advisor, part of AdvisorOne's Special Report profiling this year's members of the IA 25, the most influential people in and around the advisor universe. See the complete list and Special Report schedule for extended profiles of all the 2011 members of the IA 25.
Since taking the helm of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government Sponsored Enterprises in January, Rep. Scott Garrett's goals have been clear: roll back Dodd-Frank, deny the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) a funding increase, dismantle Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and slow down the SEC's fiduciary duty rulemaking.
The New Jersey Republican and his fellow Republicans on the subcommittee, as well as GOP members of the full Committee, told SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro in a recent letter that the SEC "lacked a clear basis" to move forward with a fiduciary duty rulemaking for brokers, and that a cost benefit analysis was needed before the agency should push ahead. (See Schapiro's response to Garrett's letter.)
Garrett has promised to hold a hearing soon to further review the SEC's fiduciary duty rulemaking as well as the study mandated under Section 914 of Dodd-Frank, commonly referred to as the self-regulatory organization (SRO) study. "The oversight, examination and enforcement programs that different financial services providers are subject to must be considered concurrently" with a fiduciary duty for brokers, he argues.
Both the SEC and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Garrett has argued, have been able to deliver numerous studies and rules mandated under Dodd-Frank at their current funding levels, and that further compliance with Dodd-Frank should not equate to "spending more money."
