Industry trade groups told the Department of Labor in a Jan. 12 letter that it would be impossible for them to provide data to DOL concerning conflicts of interest brokers face in advising IRAs by Jan. 15, and requested a meeting to "clarify and refine" DOL's original request.
In a joint letter to Joseph Piacentini, director of the DOL's Employee Benefits Security Administration's Office of Policy and Research, the trade groups said that while they "hope" the DOL's expanded "regulatory impact analysis" assessing the impact of the department's reproposed fiduciary rule on ERISA plans and IRAs is successful, none of the groups have the particular information requested, although the groups said they "do have access to providers who may be able to assist."
"We would like to meet with you to discuss clarifying and perhaps refining the requested information," the trade groups said. The groups included the Financial Services Institute, the Financial Services Roundtable, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, the American Council of Life Insurers, the Insured Retirement Institute and the American Bankers Association.
Through an expanded dialogue on these issues, the groups said, "we can then fully understand the information and data needs of the Department and, in turn can then reach out to our respective members to determine what information the industry is able to provide."
Dale Brown (left), president and CEO of FSI, said in a statement that while the groups "are pleased the administration wants to learn more about our industry so they can make a more informed decision in the future,… we need more guidance from the department, and hopefully we can meet soon and get started on the process."
