We feel that the fiduciary standard for broker-dealer based financial advisors being proposed by SEC Chairwomen Mary Jo White would have minimal impact on most of today’s brokers.
Most firms and their advisors are already adhering to the higher standard of the proposal. Customer interests comes first and fees and commissions are transparent.
There are however some areas which are the exception and will need to be changed.
Those trading on a principle basis with an undisclosed markup will likely be asked to fully disclose. This will impact the manner in which some advisors price OTC stocks and virtually all fixed income transactions.
We have seen this change coming and frankly, it’s about time. The White House suggests that current broker dealer practices are costing customers billions. We think that is an inaccurate, uninformed opinion.