The heads of two groups that represent annuity sellers say that White House regulation reviewers showed little apparent interest in their views about the U.S. Department of Labor's fiduciary definition effort during meetings this week.
The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, the White House Office of Management and Budget division that analyzes the costs and benefits of regulations, scheduled a total of about 20 meetings to hear interested parties' thoughts about the DOL effort.
OIRA changed the status of the review process Thursday to "concluded" and seems to have canceled stakeholder meetings that were scheduled for Friday and Monday.
Both Kevin Mayeux, the chief executive officer of the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors, and Marc Cadin, the CEO of Finseca, noted that regulation reviewers seemed to be rushing through the sessions with their organizations.
What it means: Officials at OIRA, OMB and the Labor Department seem not to be going out of their way to make representatives for agents and brokers feel heard.
The backdrop: The Labor Department's Employee Benefits Security Administration is preparing to release the final version of a new investment advice fiduciary definition any day.
The regulation would require anyone who regularly helps people move assets from 401(k) plans and individual retirement accounts into other financial services vehicles to abide by a fiduciary standard.
Retirement investment advice fiduciaries would have to put clients' interests first. would have to provide extensive documentation of the thinking behind investment recommendations, and might face legal challenges later if the investment recommendations prove to be disappointing.
The regulation could have an especially big impact on agents and brokers who sell non-variable annuities and non-variable cash-value life insurance, because they might face federal oversight. Today, they come under the jurisdiction of state insurance regulations.
The regulation reviews: The Insured Retirement Institute noted with surprise that OMB had completed the regulation review process while still having additional stakeholder meetings on its schedule.
Mayeux, NAIFA's CEO, said his group is disappointed by the White House decision to advance the fiduciary definition effort.
"It's unfortunate that OMB decided to advance this rule so quickly, even while OIRA still has meetings with additional stakeholders scheduled," Mayeux said.
"White House officials' lack of engagement during our meetings with them and rush to complete the OIRA review gives the impression that the administration is rubber-stamping this rehashed proposal and not considering the serious consequences it will have for the American public," he explained.
