Trump to delay rule requiring retirement
advisers to avoid conflicts: official
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[February 03, 2017]
By Ayesha Rascoe
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President
Donald Trump on Friday will direct the Labor Department to delay
implementation and review a rule designed to prevent conflicts of
interest when advisers give retirement advice, a senior White House
official said.
"We think that they have exceeded their authority with this rule and we
think this is something that is completely overreaching," the official
told reporters at a briefing on Thursday.
Trump has pledged to sharply reduce U.S. regulations, which he says have
harmed American businesses.
The retirement advice rule was issued by the Obama administration and
was set to take effect in April. It has been staunchly opposed by the
financial services industry.
Opponents of the rule argued that the rule would result in high costs
that will ultimately make small accounts unprofitable.
While some lawsuits were filed against the rule, companies like Bank of
America Corp's Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley had announced plans to
cooperate with the rule.
The Labor Department had estimated that it could cost firms as much as
$31 billion over the next decade to comply.
Trump's memo will ask the Labor Department to determine whether the rule
should be revised or whether it should be scrapped altogether, the
official said.
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President Donald Trump meets with representatives of Harley-Davidson
at the White House in Washington, U.S. February 2, 2017.
REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
Trump will also sign an order on Friday that will ask the Treasury
secretary work with other regulators to determine what the
administration can do to fix issues with measures issued under the
2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law.
Earlier this week during a meeting with business owners, Trump
described the reform law as "a disaster."
"There are quite a few things that we could do on Dodd-Frank ...
that we think will have fairly immediate and dramatic impact," the
official said, including personnel changes at regulatory agencies
and additional executive orders.
(Reporting by Ayesha Rascoe; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
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