Promising robust oversight of the financial services system, the House Financial Services Committee has announced a busy March schedule.
In what may be of most interest to retirement professionals, the Subcommittee on Investor Protection, Entrepreneurship and Capital Markets, chaired by Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), will convene a hearing on Thursday, March 14, “Putting Investors First? Examining the SEC’s Best Interest Rule.”
The witness list has not yet been released, but it is anticipated that SEC Chairman Jay Clayton will testify at the hearing.
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), chair of the House Finance Services Committee, previously criticized the proposed Reg BI in relation to the standards of care owed by broker-dealers when providing retail investors with personalized investment recommendations. In a September 2018 letter to Clayton, Waters, along with several other members of Congress, urged the SEC Chairman to revise the proposed regulation such that it “would require brokers to abide by the same high standard that currently applies to investment advisers so that all advice to retail investors is provided without regard to the financial or other interests of the adviser.”
The letter includes a number of other criticisms and recommendations regarding the proposed Reg BI and further urges the SEC to amend the proposal before finalizing it, even if it would be necessary to repropose the rulemaking to make the changes.
The SEC has set a target date of September 2019 to finalize its proposed package of investment advice rulemaking.
Meanwhile, in the context of putting consumers first, holding megabanks accountable and promoting corporate transparency, the committee’s March schedule also includes hearings to:
- conduct a semi-annual review of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau;
- examine Wells Fargo’s alleged “pattern of consumer abuses”; and
- examine legislative proposals to detect and deter financial crime.
The March 14 hearing on the SEC’s Reg BI is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. and can be viewed live on the full committee’s website, here.
