Financial Planning Coalition Applauds SEC Investor Advisory Committee on Recommendations That Would Strengthen Investor Protection

The Financial Planning Coalition (Coalition) applauds the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Investor Advisory Committee (Advisory Committee) for taking important steps in protecting American investors.

The Advisory Committee, established by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, today voted to accept two recommendations from its Investor as Purchaser Subcommittee that the SEC 1) move forward with promulgating a rule extending a uniform fiduciary duty to broker-dealers when providing personalized investment advice and 2) request legislation from Congress authorizing the SEC to collect “user fees” from SEC-registered investment advisers.

The Coalition, as well as a broad coalition of organizations including AARP, Consumer Federation of America, Investment Adviser Association, and the North American Securities Administrators Association, support these recommendations and urge the SEC to move forward with their implementation. 

At a time when investor confidence in our financial markets remains low, investors deserve better protection from bad actors in the retail investment arena.  Requiring all investment advisers to put their clients’ interest above their own through adoption of a uniform fiduciary standard while empowering the SEC to collect funding from the industry to increase investment adviser oversight are common sense measures that can lessen investors’ vulnerabilities.

About the Financial Planning Coalition

The Financial Planning Coalition, a group representing over 75,000 stakeholders, is a collaboration of Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. (CFP Board), the Financial Planning Association® (FPA®), and the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA) formed to advise legislators and regulators on how to best protect consumers by ensuring financial planning services are delivered with fiduciary accountability and transparency. To learn more, please visit www.FinancialPlanningCoalition.com.