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Could the Fiduciary Regulation Be Trumped?

What most people — and nearly every pundit thought could never happen — has.

Though candidate Trump never specifically addressed the fiduciary regulation, he has consistently spoken of his intention to reduce the reach of government regulations, and it seems reasonable to think that he’d see the fiduciary regulation in that light.

Lending credence to that sense are the recent comments by Anthony Scaramucci, managing partner of Skybridge Capital, and an adviser to the Trump campaign, who recently criticized the regulation as an example of government overreach that would divert too much capital into low-cost passive ETFs and index funds.

“We're going to repeal it,” Scaramucci was quoted as saying by InvestmentNews on the sidelines of the Securities Enforcement Forum in Washington last month.

Nor would it be all that hard for the Trump administration to do so. American Retirement Association CEO Brian Graff notes that one possible approach would be to issue an executive order indicating no enforcement of the rule while going through the administrative procedure process of actually repealing it.

Trump has declared his intention to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act, but on the fiduciary regulation there remains the question as to whether a Trump administration would replace it with a more general fiduciary standard without all the significant requirements of the DOL rule — something the industry has suggested they would view more favorably.

Another big issue — especially with the GOP maintaining majorities in both houses of Congress — could be tax reform.

Regardless, the ARA GAC and ASPPA leadership will be, as they have been, keeping a close watch on developments here. Stay tuned.