Morningstar's John Rekenthaler weighed in on the debate over fiduciary responsibility, given that different standards now exist for RIAs and those who work for a broker dealer.

Rekenthaler comes down on the side of having a more uniform stricter standard, pointing to Samuel R. Scott's data-driven argument, which cites research that shows 85 percent of investors don't know the difference between fiduciary and suitability rules.

Rekenthaler argues that the ending of sales contests and selling certain securities because the brokerage firm has them in inventory would be positive developments. The only potential downside may be in commissions, but Rekenthaler says that he is confident fund companies can adapt, writing, "Varying levels of commissions among funds might be an issue--but presumably fund companies would quickly adjust to their customers' difficulties by having their commission payments converge."

Though Rekenthaler admits there may be challenges he isn't considering, he writes that the concern among some in the industry is probably just resistance to change.

To read more, click here.  

Edited by: Casey Quinlan


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