Stradley Ronon attorney George Michael Gerstein was quoted in multiple news outlets discussing the DOL fiduciary rule roll back.
In The Wall Street Journal, Gerstein said, the Labor Department is signaling that it believes the rule's current exemption requirements are onerous and that it will propose a new, more flexible exemption track for products that pose few conflicts of interest. He said the department seems to be suggesting that a lot of the gains to investors are largely coming from the best-interest standard that is already in effect. "It's here to stay, and it means that they're perhaps growing more skeptical of gains to be derived from other requirements not yet in place," Gerstein said.
In ThinkAdvisor, Gerstein said, "The new streamlined class exemption will likely be a 'less onerous exemptions for certain products that have few conflicts of interest, and perhaps a variation of the streamlined best-interest contract exemption.' The streamlined exemption would be independent of the current BICE, and, 'it looks like it will be nimble enough for new innovations in the financial services industry,' such as clean shares."
In InvestmentNews, Gerstein said, "From an industry perspective, it would probably be a much more palatable, less onerous way to comply with the rule."