In November 2023, the U.S. Department of Labor released its package of proposed changes to the regulation defining fiduciary advice and to the exemptions for conflicts and compensation for investment recommendations to retirement plans, participants (including rollovers), and IRAs (including transfers). On March 8, 2024, the DOL sent the final rule to the Office of Management and Budget in the White House.
Key Takeaways
- In a little over 2 months, the DOL finalized it proposed fiduciary rules—the Retirement Security Rule: Definition of an Investment Advice Fiduciary.
- That 2-month turnaround is very fast as compared to the usual time frames, suggesting that the OMB review may also move quickly.
- The OMB has up to 90 days to review rules, but this suggests that its review could be done in 45 days, give a week or two.
- While we know that the final rule is at the OMB, we don’t know what it says or how it changed from the proposals. We will only know that after it is published in the Federal Register when the OMB review is completed.
The Department of Labor has sent its final versions of the fiduciary proposal to the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review. While the OMB’s website just refers to the “Retirement Security Rule: Definition of an Investment Fiduciary”—the name of the fiduciary regulation—it is likely that the rules sent for regulatory review included the prohibited transaction exemptions as well. The RIN (1212-AC02) for the final rule is the same one in the Regulatory Agenda that included the exemptions.
Continue reading The New Fiduciary Rule (23): The Final Rule Has Been Sent to the OMB