On June 5, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved its highly anticipated package of rulemakings and interpretive guidance relating to the standards of care applicable to financial professionals when making recommendations and providing investment advice to retail investors.

Included in this package was the SEC’s new Regulation Best Interest, which will likely require transformative changes for much of the retail brokerage industry.

With an effective date of June 30, 2020, what concrete steps should broker-dealers consider taking as they work toward compliance by the deadline?

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The Certified Financial Planner (CFP) Board recently adopted a new fiduciary standard for CFP professionals to act in the best interest of their clients at all times when providing financial advice. Although the CFP Board announced that it would not enforce the new requirements until June 30, 2020, broker-dealers and investment advisers should begin considering whether or not they should take any action to help ensure that their associated persons who are CFP professionals comply with the new fiduciary standard, including:

• the specific fiduciary duties owed to a CFP’s client, including the duty to avoid or fully disclose material conflicts of interest
• considerations for firms regarding whether, and if so how, to supervise the new standard
• enforcement of the new fiduciary standard of conduct

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