Fred Reish, well-known among advisors as the ERISA guru, recently predicted areas of "relief" that the Department of Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration will provide when it reproposes its rule amending the definition of fiduciary early next year.

Phyllis Borzi, assistant secretary for EBSA, announced Oct. 25 that the administration would repropose its controversial rule amending the definition of fiduciary under ERISA "shortly after the first of the year."

Reish, partner and chair of the Financial Services ERISA Team at Drinker Biddle & Reath in Los Angeles, says the decision to repropose the rule is a "victory for the private sector and particularly for insurance companies and broker-dealers who objected to a number of provisions in the initial proposal." However, he says, "the victory may be limited" as DOL will likely provide relief "on certain issues, but not on others."

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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 2024. 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.