Galvin slams Trump’s ‘fiduciary rule’ order

BOSTON – The secretary of the commonwealth this month denounced President Donald Trump’s order to derail the controversial, so-called “fiduciary rule.”

William F. Galvin, secretary of the commonwealth of Massachusetts, called Trump’s order to suspend the implementation of the U.S. Department of Labor’s newly adopted rule a “reckless act,” and a “grave setback and a profound setback to the interests of American workers and retirees.”

The rule, approved last year, is designed – in basic terms – to compel financial advisers to act in the best interest of clients’ financial well-being. The rule has received a lot of pushback from the financial services industry, however, which argues it hampers business and doesn’t effectively achieve what it set out to accomplish.

Galvin dismisses such arguments.

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“Those who advocate rolling back the rule urge that such a rollback increases customer choice and freedom,” he said. “In fact, the opposite is true. Without the fiduciary rule, retirement investors will continue to be vulnerable to high-cost and high-risk investments that primarily benefit the sponsors and retailers of those products.”

The rule has resulted in several legal challenges, including one that was dismissed recently by U.S. District Judge Barbara M.G. Lynn.

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