Trump administration signals plans to defang retirement rule

Source: Reuters




#U.S.SEPTEMBER 11, 2017 / 4:35 PM / UPDATED 42 MINUTES AGO

Elizabeth Dilts

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. government will likely water down a key part of a landmark retirement rule, lawyers for the Department of Labor said, signaling that the government will offer an out for brokerages that would have been subject to class action lawsuits.

Thrivent Financial, a Minneapolis-based asset manager, has asked a federal court in Minnesota to block an anti-arbitration provision in the government’s fiduciary rule. The provision allows unhappy clients to sue their brokers, a first in an industry which has always required customer disputes be arbitrated.

In a brief filed last week, Labor Department lawyers wrote that their agency’s actions on the fiduciary rule “in the near future are likely to moot this case.”

“The department has stated its agreement with the plaintiff that the challenged provision is improper as applied to arbitration agreements,” the Labor Department said in its filing.


Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-fiduciary/trump-administration-signals-plans-to-defang-retirement-rule-idUSKCN1BM2KM