Tipping point?

“The fiduciary debate has extended to the mainstreamand market participants are taking firm public positions in theface of fiduciary rule uncertainty. Regardless of the rule's fate,we've reached a fiduciary tipping point.

We're proud to be helping a growing number of fiduciaries createbetter outcomes for investors, and their own businesses.”

John Faustino, AIF, chief product and strategy officer atFi360

Unchanged goals

Our team offers securities through two channels: 1) asregistered representatives through our broker dealer and 2) asinvestment advisor representatives through our registered investment advisory (RIA) firm.While the RIA has always been under the fiduciary standard, the BDis now being brought up to the same level.

Additionally, we have two types of clients: retirement plans andindividuals. The plan services are primarily on the RIA andtherefore already covered for the new rule, and the plan providermarket place makes it fairly easy to change for those that arenot.

Separately, our retail individual business — such as IRAaccounts — we have historically placed through our broker dealer.The main reason is that the products for our client demographic didnot make sense in the RIA space. For instance, we are seeking alow-cost, easy to use, mutual fund-only platform for our individualclients, and because our retail clients would generally beconsidered small accounts, the fees and services often were notprudent.

Many of the brokerage account structures we could offer werehigh priced, not efficient, and included additional transactionfees, which we did not feel were best for our clients. As themarketplace develops further, we hope to see more low-cost, easy toengage and easy to understand solutions made available for ourclients that also abide by the fiduciary rule.

At the end of the day, whether BD or RIA, our goal hasn'tchanged: we will continue to strive to act in the best interests ofour clients' retirement needs.

Nick Kralj, director of retirement at BCI Group

Win-win scenario

CFP Board and its Financial Planning Coalition partners submitthat the experiences of CFP® professionals and their clients showthat a broadly applicable fiduciary standard represents a win-winfor the industry and the public.

Today, there are thousands of CFP® professionals across thecountry who provide fiduciary-level services to everyday Americanseither under commission-based business models or for fees with noor very low minimum asset requirements. We firmly believe that whenfinancial professionals operate under a fiduciary standard ofconduct, they can continue providing financial advice to investorsof all income levels that serves the investors' best interests.

Maureen Thompson, vice president of public policy at CFPBoard

A foregone conclusion

The DOL fiduciary ruling will lead to fundamental changes in theretirement industry, by adapting operations andprocedures to serve clients with greater transparency, greaterchoice and greater value. Despite President Trump's executive orderto delay implementation, there is already a secular trend moving inthis direction across all areas of the financial services industry— and increasing in force over the past decade.

Regardless of the DOL fiduciary rule's status, many productproviders and advisors themselves are moving to a fee-basedstructure that focuses on simplicity, transparency and choice, toserve the clients' best interest. When you put the power back intothe hands of the consumer and you sit on the same side of the tableas your client, both you and your client can succeed. After all,what financial advisor wants to be seen as not putting theirclient's interests first? Educated consumers expect it and demandit.

Mitchell H. Caplan, CEO at Jefferson National