The Securities Industry Financial Market Association, the tradeassociation that represents the interests of the brokerageindustry, is a free-market proponent when it comes to expandingaccess to workplace retirement plans.

And it isn’t.

When the Treasury Department recently launched itsmyRA retirement savings program, which hopes to expandaccess to the more than 50 million Americans without access to aworkplace retirement savings plan, SIFMA was quick to lend itssupport.

Read: 5 things to know about Americans andretirement planning

"MyRa offers a simple, no fee, government-backed savings option- particularly for those who are just starting to save and thosewho do not have access to employer-sponsored plans,” said KennethBentsen, SIFMA’s president and CEO.

“Through greater education on the value of saving early witheven the smallest contributions to a retirement account, myRA willhelp many more Americans take the first steps towards a morefinancially secure future," added Bentsen.

Participants in the myRA program can elect to have contributionsautomatically deferred from paychecks or their bank account.

Money is invested in a newly issued government-backed securitythat returns a rate comparable to the G Fund available to federalworkers through the Thrift Savings Plan.

Annual contributions are capped at $5,500 for individuals—thesame as apply to Traditional and Roth IRAs.

Upon its rollout, Jack Lew, Secretary of the Treasury, stressedthat the program is not intended to replace private sector savingsplans, but rather serves as “a bridge to other savingsproducts.”

In fact, when participants in myRA accounts accrue $15,000 insavings, they no longer collect interest on the accounts. If theydon’t roll the assets over into a private sector account on theirown, Treasury will automatically roll them into a private sectorRoth IRA.

Savers who defer as much as $100 a week—an aggressive rate forthe low and middle-income workers the program hopes to target—wouldmeet the $15,000 threshold in about three years. Saving $20 a weekcould put an enrollee flirting with the threshold after 13years.

When it comes to the wave of state-sponsored retirementinitiatives, SIFMA support for government-led retirement solutionsstops cold.

In a new position paper, the trade group says such initiativesare not the most effective way to address access shortfalls tosavings plans.

SIFMA cited three primary reasons—the first being the collectiveshortfall of state and local pensions across the country, which theCenter for Retirement Research put at more than $1 trillion in2013.

It also said state sponsored retirement plans for private sectorworkers would create conflicts between federal and state law, andpointed out that there is currently “no guidance” from the DOL orcourts as to how state-run plans would operate under ERISA.

That of course is expected to change, as Phyllis Borzi,assistant secretary of Labor and head of the Employee BenefitsSecurity Administration, has promised guidance will be issued byyear’s end.

In a report issued by the Government AccountabilityOffice, none of the six states it examined would capasset levels and then automatically roll them over to the privatesector, as myRA does (one plan in Washington state would create astate-run marketplace for providers to compete for business).

The GAO came out in support of regulatory and Congressionalaction to support state-sponsored retirement initiatives.

Some plans at the state level would mandate enrollment forbusinesses with as few as five employees. Such requirements fromstates may be as close as the country can come to legislatingcompulsory enrollment at the federal level, as has been done inAustralia.

To SIFMA, government intervention at the state level makeslittle sense, in spite of the support it gives to the myRAprogram.

“The private sector already offers a variety of retirementsavings options, including fairly priced 401(k) plans, 403(b)plans, 401(a) plans, 457(b) plans, SIMPLE IRAs, SEP IRAs, andtraditional IRAs,” said SIFMA in its position paper.