Brad Campbell Shares Insights on Proposed DOL Fiduciary Rule With Life Annuity Specialist

In “DOL Proposal Could Force Some Producers to Violate SEC Regulations, Critics Say,” benefits and executive compensation partner Brad Campbell spoke to Life Annuity Specialist about the Department of Labor’s (DOL) proposed fiduciary rule.

Campbell noted that the DOL can make a “technical argument” that agents are not being asked to misstate their professional status under the rule; rather, they are merely being required to provide written disclosure indicating that they’re acting as a fiduciary.

Campbell also thinks the proposal oversteps federal authority. Being more restrictive than state best interest laws that also apply to rollover recommendations, it would effectively displace them, as well as state securities rules, he added.

Further, Campbell is concerned about the proposed rule’s lack of fiduciary advice exclusions applying to conversations between financial professionals — for example, for a product recommendation arising from an agent’s communications with a wholesaler. The publication reported that such an exclusion was present in the 2016 version of the DOL rule proposal that the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals later vacated.

“You really can’t run a regulatory system where every issue of, ‘Am I a fiduciary or not?’ comes down to the facts and circumstances analysis of a single conversation,” Campbell stated. “That is not an administrable standard.”

The full article is available for Life Annuity Specialist subscribers.