Academic

Last week, when reading the parts of Dodd-Frank that called for the SEC to study whether the standards of care for brokers who gave personalized advice for retail customers were appropriate, I was suspicious that anything would happen.  My colleague Larry Ribstein disagreed with me.  He was right.

Today, the SEC called for comment on duties for broker-dealers as part of its study.  Here is the press release.  Summary: 

The Securities and Exchange Commission today published a request for public comment to inform its study of the obligations and standards of care of broker-dealers and investment advisers providing personalized investment advice about securities to retail investors. The study is required under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, which President Obama signed into law on July 21, 2010. As required by the Dodd-Frank Act, the SEC is requesting public input, comments, and data on issues related to the effectiveness of existing standards of care for brokers-dealers and investment advisers, and whether there are gaps, shortcomings, or overlaps in the current legal or regulatory standards.