SEC Using ‘Best Interest’ as a ‘Marketing Slogan’: Phyllis Borzi
March 19, 2019 by Jane Wollman Rusoff
Phyllis Borzi, Labor Department assistant secretary for the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) from 2009 to 2017 and key architect of the department’s now-defunct fiduciary rule for advising retirement accounts, spares no disdain for the Securities and Exchange Commission’s proposed Regulation Best Interest.
In an interview with ThinkAdvisor, she dismisses Reg BI’s use of “best interest” as “a marketing slogan” and the proposed rule “not even as strong as [the] suitability [standard].” She is especially critical of Regulation Best Interest because it allows financial advisors to not work in the client’s best interest as long as they disclose the conflict.
In government and academic posts, Borzi forged a career of fighting for consumers. Now she’s doing it from inside the financial services industry as a member of Edelman Financial Engines’ board of directors, as of last November. This marks the first time the attorney and former university professor has served on a corporate board.
Click HERE to read the full story via ThinkAdvisor.