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Industry Trade Groups Push for Extension to DOL Fiduciary Rule Comment Period

Industry Trade Groups Push for Extension to DOL Fiduciary Rule Comment Period. Alternative investment, inflation, Institute for Portfolio Alternative, IPA, 1031, ADISA, alternative investments, Cantor Fitzgerald Asset Management, INVEST, Opportunity Zones, OZ
Industry Trade Groups Push for Extension to DOL Fiduciary Rule Comment Period. Alternative investment, inflation, Institute for Portfolio Alternative, IPA, 1031, ADISA, alternative investments, Cantor Fitzgerald Asset Management, INVEST, Opportunity Zones, OZ

The Alternative & Direct Investment Securities Association and the Institute for Portfolio Alternatives joined sixteen other financial services trade groups that signed a request to the U.S. Department of Labor yesterday requesting an extension of the 60-day comment period on its new fiduciary rule, officially known as the Retirement Security Rule.

The request also applies to amendments to the prohibited transaction exemptions, which the groups charge “makes significant and unanticipated changes to the current regulatory framework that will require significantly more time for meaningful analysis and comment, and to understand how this proposal would impact access and choice for retirement savers.”

As The DI Wire previously reported, the DOL says the new proposals seek to crack down on “junk fees” that, the White House claims, cost middle-class retirement savers a significant portion of their savings.

The groups argue that when the 2010 Fiduciary Rule was released, the Labor Department initially had a 90-day comment period, followed by a 14-day extension. The DOL then held a public meeting, followed by a 15-day comment period for response. For the 2016 Fiduciary Rule and Related Exemptions, DOL allowed a 75-day comment period and granted a 15-day extension. After a public hearing, there was then another 15-day comment period.

“We urge DOL to grant at least a 60-day extension of the comment period for the proposed rule and to schedule the public hearing for a date after the initial comment period closes, followed by an additional 30-day comment period,” the trade groups wrote to Lisa Gomez, assistant secretary of Labor for the Employee Benefits Security Administration. “Considering that DOL has spent almost three years crafting the proposed rule, it strikes us that affording all interested stakeholders sufficient time to provide meaningful feedback would be in DOL’s interest.”

The new rule has already faced significant backlash. In September, prior to the submission of the new proposal to the White House’s Office of Management and Budget, several members of Congress sent a letter to Su in which they urged the agency to cease any further action to amend the definition of investment advice fiduciary.

The Alternative & Direct Investment Securities Association bills itself as the nation’s largest trade association representing the non‐traded alternative investment space. ADISA’s members are typically involved in non-traded real estate investment trusts, business development companies, master limited partnerships and private and public funds (LPs/LLCs), 1031 exchange programs (DSTs/TICs), energy and oil and gas interests, equipment leasing programs or other alternative and direct investment offerings.

The Institute for Portfolio Alternatives is an advocacy and education group for the non-traded alternative investment industry. The organization seeks to raise awareness of investment products with low correlation to the equity markets, which include non-traded real estate investment trusts, business development companies, interval funds and direct participation programs.

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