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Fiduciary Rule Alternative Passes House Committee

Yesterday, the United States House Committee on Ways and Means voted 26-12 to pass the Strengthening Access to Valuable Education and Retirement Support Act (H.R.4294), or the Savers Act, as an alternative to the Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule.

The “fiduciary rule” could redefine what the Employee Retirement Income Security Act considers a fiduciary and impose new mandates and regulatory requirements on financial advisors.

The bipartisan bill, which was introduced by Oversight Subcommittee chairman Peter Roskam (R-IL) and Congressman Richard Neal (D-MA), “amends the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to ensure that retirement investors receive advice in their best interests.”

Chairman Roskam said, “the SAVERS Act represents a sensible, bipartisan solution to strengthen retirement savings and help American workers have the tools they need to plan for a secure financial future.”

In his opening statements, Roskam said that the bill “requires smarter–not just more–disclosure. Rather than flooding consumers with a mountain of fine print and data they are bound to ignore, [it] requires clearly communicated disclosure of key information about the compensation an advisor stands to earn and whether the advice they are providing is generic, or individually tailored to meet specific retirement savings goals.”

He explained that the fiduciary rule would “force Americans to break their personal relationships with their trusted financial advisors and instead rely on robo-advice and computer programs.”

As reported by the DI Wire yesterday, the Savers Act also passed The House Committee on Education and the Workforce along with a companion bill, The Affordable Retirement Advice Protection Act (H.R. 4293) introduced by Rep. Phil Roe (R-TN).

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