Securities and Exchange Commission Chairwoman Mary Jo White said in early October that developing a fiduciary duty rule for brokers remains a "major focus of our efforts."
After her remarks at the Securities Enforcement Forum in Washington, White told reporters that while she couldn't predict "time-wise when we reach [a rule proposal], it's very important to work on and resolve where we are going on it."
Indeed, former SEC Chairwoman Mary Schapiro, who struggled for years to get a fiduciary duty rule passed during her term, told IA that she's confident that "progress can be made on the uniform fiduciary duty" rule.
In hopes of pushing the SEC's fiduciary rulemaking along, a subcommittee of the agency's Investor Advisory Committee has drafted a proposal that would put brokers under fiduciary standards that advisors adhere to.
Under the draft proposal, the subcommittee says that a fiduciary duty for investment advice should include, "first and foremost, an enforceable, principles-based obligation to act in the best interest of the customer."
