Gripes about a short comment period pervaded the comments the Labor Department received on its fiduciary package, but commenters also voiced concern, and asked for clarity, regarding Labor reinstating the 1975 five-part test defining fiduciary investment advice under ERISA — and its impact on rollovers.
"The definition itself, with its five-part test, has already been finalized," Barbara Roper, director of investor protection for the Consumer Federation of America, told ThinkAdvisor in a Friday email. "The comments reveal how inappropriate it was for the DOL to take that action without going through a notice and comment process."
Labor, Roper said, should "withdraw the final rule reinstating the definition and instead issue a proposed rule, including its interpretation, for further comment."
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Melanie Waddell
Melanie is senior editor and Washington bureau chief of ThinkAdvisor. Her ThinkAdvisor coverage zeros in on how politics, policy, legislation and regulations affect the investment advisory space. Melanie’s coverage has been cited in various lawmakers’ reports, letters and bills, and in the Labor Department’s fiduciary rule in 2023. In 2019, Melanie received an Honorable Mention, Range of Work by a Single Author award from @Folio. Melanie joined Investment Advisor magazine as New York bureau chief in 2000. She has been a columnist since 2002. She started her career in Washington in 1994, covering financial issues at American Banker. Since 1997, Melanie has been covering investment-related issues, holding senior editorial positions at American Banker publications in both Washington and New York. Briefly, she was content chief for Internet Capital Group’s EFinancialWorld in New York and wrote freelance articles for Institutional Investor. Melanie holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Towson University. She interned at The Baltimore Sun and its suburban edition.
