Trump Moving Quickly on Federal Rules and Regulation – DOL Fiduciary Delay Coming?
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday freezing all government regulations coming down the pipeline to give his appointees the opportunity to review new or pending regulations. The White House indicated that the President would be signing additional executive orders this week, but it is unclear if halting the Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule will be on the list.
Last week, White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus sent a memo to agency heads with orders to immediately withdraw regulations not yet published in the Federal Register and to postpone for 60 days all published regulations that have not yet taken effect.
While the action does not affect the fiduciary rule since it has a June 2016 effective date, it signals the intent of the Trump administration to roll-back certain initiatives made under Obama.
The fiduciary rule, which was six years in the making, attempts to reduce conflicts of interest in retirement investment advice and redefines who is considered an investment advice fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974.
Since Trump’s inauguration, fiduciary rule opponents and industry insiders are buzzing about the possibility that the new administration is preparing to issue an order in the coming days to delay implementation of the rule. Many detractors hope that a delay will eventually kill the rule in its present form.
The fiduciary rule has survived two federal lawsuits in recent months, with several challenges still pending.
