Fred Reish Quoted in Investment News

Los Angeles partner Fred Reish was quoted in Investment News in an article titled, “Election Outcome to Determine Fate of Controversial Fiduciary Reg.”

The article discusses the fate of the Department of Labor’s proposed fiduciary rule that would expand the definition of “fiduciary” to include more types of investment advisers and more situations.

The Labor Department first proposed a rule to significantly expand the fiduciary designation for advisers to retirement plans in October 2010 but withdrew it after fierce financial industry opposition.

The agency initially said it would issue a revised rule early this year but the timeline slipped until after the election; it is likely the agency will press ahead with the rule if Mr. Obama wins the election.

“From the perspective of a Democratic administration, their focus is on trying to protect participants and they'll put a greater burden on service providers to do that,” Fred said in an interview after speaking at the ASPPA event.

“A Republican administration also is interested in protecting participants,” he said, “but they're much more comfortable that the private benefit marketplace can sort that stuff out. As a result, they're going to rely more on disclosure than fiduciary status.”