Financial Planning Groups Ask SEC To Keep RIA Oversight Hot

 The Financial Planning Coalition has sent an official comment asking the SEC to keep registered investment advisors under its regulatory umbrella instead of handing oversight over to FINRA as currently contemplated.

The letter signed by the CEOs of the CFP Board, NAPFA and the FPA warns that FINRA may do an adequate job supervising the sales-oriented brokerage business but its auditors have no real experience enforcing a fiduciary standard.

Furthermore, the professional bodies -- which estimate that they represent around 75,000 financial planners -- note that things may be busy at the SEC these days, but the commission still has the resources to deal with advisors, especially since it already received permission to add 100 compliance personnel just to oversee RIAs. 

With around 4,000 RIAs dropping down to state regulation as the threshold for SEC oversight climbs to $100 million in AUM, the signatory bodies say there should be plenty of staff and budget power to go around.

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