Published: September 2015

Financial professionals should act in their clients’ best interest

Coalition: Save our retirement

Consumer Action joined coalition advocates in urging Congress to vote NO on the misnamed “Retail Investor Protection Act” (H.R. 1090) when the bill comes up for a vote in the Financial Services Committee. H.R. 1090 is a clear attempt to cripple and delay the Department of Labor’s ability to implement protections for retirement savers while providing fair and flexible terms for well-meaning financial firms.

Retirement savers who are struggling to fund an independent and secure retirement need financial advice they can trust. Current regulations expose retirement savers to recommendations from conflicted advisers who are free to recommend products based on their own financial interests rather than those of their customers. The Department of Labor (DOL) is considering updates to its rules so that financial advisors serving retirement savers have to work in the best interest of their clients. The DOL’s proposal combines a best interest standard with meaningful restrictions on the practices that undermine that standard–offers significant progress toward addressing this problem. As such, Consumer Action and consumer advocates oppose the misnamed “Retail Investor Protection Act” (HR 1090)—A clear attempt to thwart DOL action.

Other Organizations

AFSCME | Alliance for Retired Americans | American Association for Justice | American Association of University Women | Americans for Financial Reform | Association of University Centers on Disabilities | Better Markets | Center for Community Change Action | Center for Global Policy Solutions | Center for Responsible Lending | Committee for the Fiduciary Duty | Consumer Action | Consumer Federation of America | International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers | International Brotherhood of Boilermakers | International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Union Lynn Turner, former chief accountant, SEC | Main Street Alliance | Metal Trades Department, AFL-CIO | National Council of LaRaza | National Organization for Women | Pension Rights Center | Public Citizen | Public Investors Arbitration Bar Association | United Auto Workers | United Steelworkers, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union (USW)

More Information

For more information, visit Save Our Retirement's website.

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Financial professionals should act in their clients’ best interest   (OppoHR1090WagnerbillFINAL.pdf)