FSI Tool Connects Advisers to Congress

It’s often observed that members of the U.S. House and Senate only care about the opinions of those voters residing in their respective districts.

According to the Financial Services Institute (FSI), this also largely holds true for members of the business community. To help financial advisers identify and contact the appropriate national legislators, FSI unveiled a new “fiduciary microsite,” at www.MySavingsMyChoice.org.

The website asks advisers to fill in their basic business and contact information, including address, in order to identify the appropriate Senators and Representatives to contact. The site also directs advisers’ comment letters to the appropriate Department of Labor (DOL) address.

Once their information is entered, advisers are directed to an automatically populated letter template that takes a pretty harsh stance against the pending fiduciary rulemaking from the Department of Labor (DOL). Like other advisory industry groups, FSI says the rule will interfere with financial advisory clients’ ability to work with the adviser of their choosing. Advisers in favor of the rule can also use the site, as FSI gives advisers the capability of clearing the pre-populated letter text to insert their own commentary.

FSI says it is “working directly with its 37,000 financial adviser members and 100+ firm members to reach their current clients asking them to weigh in on the rule. FSI will next provide an extensive comment letter to the DOL on the rule on July 21.”

The pending fiduciary rule language is currently still open for comments. The comment period on the proposals closes on July 21, to be followed by an extended public hearing on the subject.