Some reps who think they are ready for a fiduciary standard may not fullygrasp the implications.

More than two-thirds of financial advisors, 67 percent, sayrecent moves by regulators are having “minimal to no impact” ontheir risk assessment processes, according to a survey. Plus, 68percent say Department of Labor and Securities and Exchange Commissionactions have had “minimal to no impact on their clientinteractions regarding risk assessment.”

The survey, led by the tech firm AdvisoryWorld, also says 62percent of the roughly 250 poll respondents are “not changing theirdocumentation practices in anticipation of the DOL fiduciary dutyrule being finalized,” the firm says.

But are advisors really that unaffected by the coming shift inthe fiduciary standard and other regulatorychanges?

“There may be some misunderstanding of what is really requiredto meet the fiduciary standard, which involves establishing aprocess [for evaluating] for the riskiness and suitability ofinvestments for clients and risk profiles for clients,” said PhilipWilson, CEO and founder of AdvisoryWorld, in an interview withThinkAdvisor.

Most advisors polled, 67 percent, also said they had “anintegrated system in place for monitoring and managing suitabilityof each household’s investments across their entire book ofbusiness,” according to AdvisoryWorld.

“Yes, advisors seem to ‘get it,’” in terms of grasping whattechnology can do to help FAs with compliance issues, explainsWilson. “But are they actually doing it? That’s another matter. Arethey getting what they need to act? From the survey, my sense isthat while some may come close to doing so, many are not.”

Indeed, regulatory issues continue to plague advisors and theirbroker-dealers.

For instance, LPL Financial (LPLA) spent $36 million on regulatory chargesin 2014. This year, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority levied a$11.7 million charge against LPL for supervisoryfailures associated with the sale of complex products; and NewHampshire regulators want LPL to pay $3.6 million in fines andrestitution for alleged unsuitable sales of nontraded real estateinvestment trusts.

“There are so many complicated compliance issues today and somany derivative products,” Wilson said. “It’s a lot morecomplicated than in the past, and only now are some firms comingaround … to see the need for an integrative process that looksacross an entire book of business” at a broker-dealer or RIA.”

Having an easily repeatable process that individual advisors canfollow--using technology--can also help eliminate troubles with theSEC and FINRA, he states: “You just can’t do this one account orone advisor at a time.”

A total of 95 percent of advisors polled say thatperformance-reporting software is either “very important,” 57percent, or “important,” 38 percent. Just 5 percent indicate thatit is “not important.”

“They may not get all [thistechnology] from one source,” said Wilson. “It could be from hereand there vs. being a comprehensive package.”

--- Related onThinkAdvisor:

• Evensky: Fee-Only Advisors Face AnnuityDilemma
• Lawmakers Ask DOL to Start Over on FiduciaryRule