02.28.22

Brokers Straining Under New Labor Department Rollover Standards

by: Austin R. Ramsey

Insurers and financial brokers who advise workplace retirement clients are being pressured by the Biden administration to impose a strict fiduciary standard of care on all their transactions, even when some of those sales would not qualify under the law. The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has started enforcing a rule that is forcing financial professionals to adjust their business plans to qualify for exemptions that let them earn commissions on the advice they provide. The DOL's latest interpretation of that rule may qualify one-time advice to transfer assets from a workplace plan into an annuity or individual retirement account as fiduciary advice; the policy of its Employee Benefits Security Administration last year, which barred enforcement, expired in January.

Read the full article on Bloomberg Law