August 30, 2010
It is time now, to make sure all financial professionals are held to the same high investor protection standards for investment advice. Investors deserve advice that is in their best interests. I support a fiduciary standard for brokers who provide personalized investment advice to retail clients. Congress has given the SEC authority to make sure all financial professionals adhere to a fiduciary standard and put their clients best interests first when providing investment advice. It is a standard that investment advisers have been following for decades, and now it is time to take an important step in clearing up investor confusion and ensuring that a fiduciary obligation applies to all investment advice, regardless of who provides it.
I urge you to recommend to Congress that it is necessary and appropriate in the public interest and for the protection of consumers to extend the fiduciary standard to broker-dealers, who provide personalized investment advice, and to initiate a rulemaking to achieve this long overdue consumer reform.