ANALYSIS: A Halftime Look at the SEC Investment Advice Rules

Midway through 2020, investment professionals must comply with the SEC’s much ballyhooed—and criticized—rulemaking package on conduct standards and disclosures. The package includes, among other requirements, Regulation Best Interest (Reg BI). With compliance due in about five months, now is a good time to take a look at the long and winding road that led us to this point, and to take a quick look ahead.

Where We Started

In June 2019, the SEC issued its new standards package for brokers and investment advisers. The initial package totaled more than 1,300 pages; in September 2019, the SEC posted individual releases to ...