Pelosi Statement on Final Fiduciary Rule to Strengthen Retirement Security

April 6, 2016

Washington, D.C. – Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi released the following statement after the Department of Labor unveiled its final rule to protect families' retirement security by requiring financial advisers offering employer-sponsored benefit plans and individual retirement savings vehicles to abide by a "fiduciary" standard, obliging them to act only in the best interests of their clients:

"Today, the Department of Labor has unveiled a strong and greatly-improved final fiduciary rule that will enhance the retirement security of hard-working Americans across the country. The final rule has clearly benefitted from its comprehensive, inclusive, meaningful and extensive public input process – including thousands of public comments, days of public hearings, hundreds of stakeholder meetings, and more than 100 Congressional meetings with Secretary Perez and his team. We are grateful to Secretary Perez for his leadership and responsiveness in guiding this public input process and in crafting this much-improved fiduciary rule.

"While most advisors honor their responsibility to their clients, an unscrupulous few allow conflicts of interest to place their own financial interests above those of retirees. For some, this bad counsel can result in the loss of more than a quarter of a retiree's savings. Furthermore, the absence of a fiduciary responsibility fosters the distrust that keeps many hard-working Americans who need sound financial advice out of the market entirely.

"Americans scraping and saving for retirement deserve to know their financial advisor will help them safeguard their future – and frankly, many Americans expect this already. The final fiduciary standard rule is a vital step forward that will strengthen the retirement security and confidence of every American."