In Practice September 23, 2024

College for Financial Planning Launches Accredited Investment Fiduciary Training Program

Fi360, a Broadridge Company, selected the College as the official education provider.

Reported by

The College for Financial Planning—a Kaplan Company—has launched an Accredited Investment Fiduciary training program, designed to help financial professionals earn the AIF designation, according to a Monday announcement.

Fi360, a Broadridge Company and the owner of the designation, has named the College an official education provider for the program. This partnership allows candidates pursuing the AIF credential to meet the necessary training requirements to sit for the exam.

Want the latest retirement plan adviser news and insights? Sign up for PLANADVISER newsletters.

“We see the AIF as a great ‘first’ designation due to its high credibility and relative low time commitment to achieve,” John Faustino, head of Broadridge’s Fi360, said in a statement. “The College is well positioned to help address growing AIF training demand from wealth advisors and other financial professionals.”

The AIF designation ensures that professionals advising on investor assets have a solid understanding of fiduciary duties and the standards required to act in their clients’ best interests. Fi360’s accreditation by the ANSI National Accreditation Board under the international standard 17024 places the AIF designation among an elite group of financial certifications, according to the Kaplan company.

“Through premier student-centered education like our AIF training, the College continues to advance the field of financial planning by empowering our students to make a difference in their clients’ lives and thrive in their own careers,” Dirk Pantone, president of the College, said in a statement. “The College is incredibly excited to continue this commitment by helping financial professionals earn their AIF® designation, which lets consumers know that their interests will take top priority.”

In April, OneAmerica Financial Partners Inc. and Broadridge Financial Solutions Inc. had announced a collaboration to provide 30 female financial advisers with free training for the AIF designation.

The OneAmerica Financial Female Retirement Professionals Program is led by Sandy McCarthy, president of Retirement Services at OneAmerica Financial, with the goal of elevating women in the financial services industry. OneAmerica’s retirement division will be acquired by Voya as of 2025, according to an agreement the firms announced earlier this month.
Compliance September 23, 2024

DOL Will Appeal Stay on Fiduciary Rule

The Department of Labor will ask the 5th Circuit to reinstate the fiduciary rule after it was blocked by two federal courts in Texas. 

Reported by

The Department of Labor will appeal two federal court stays on its fiduciary rule, which was originally slated to go into effect Monday. 

Notices of appeal were filed by the DOL on Friday in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas and U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Tyler Division, with the full appeal pending with the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. 

Never miss a story — sign up for PLANADVISER newsletters to keep up on the latest retirement plan adviser news.

The fiduciary rule, formerly called the Retirement Security Rule, was the DOL’s second attempt in the past decade to bring retirement investment advice, including individual retirement account rollovers and small employer-plan advisement under fiduciary obligation. The rule had been finalized with a September 23 start date but hit legal roadblocks from complaints filed by industry firms and member organizations. 

The Northern District court put a national stay on the rule in a July 26 opinion in American Council of Life Insurers v. DOL. One day prior to that ruling, the Eastern District court had also granted a stay for the plaintiffs in a separate case, Federation of Americans for Consumer Choice Inc. et al. v. DOL et al. 

On Friday, the DOL signaled it will appeal to get the fiduciary rule back, but it has yet to provide its full argument.  

In 2018, the 5th Circuit, which hears appeals from federal courts in Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, invalidated a DOL fiduciary rule in Chamber of Commerce v. U.S. Department of Labor. The DOL has argued that the rule currently being challenged is different, in part because it more clearly addresses when retirement plan rollover advice and annuity sales fall under fiduciary guidance. 

U.S. District Judge Reed C. O’Connor, however, presiding in the Northern District, wrote in granting the stay that Chamber played a role in his decision. 

“As a whole, Defendants’ arguments [against the lawsuit] are nothing more than an attempt to relitigate the Chamber decision,” O’Connor wrote. “Because the Fifth Circuit’s Chamber decision unambiguously forecloses all of Defendant’s arguments, the Court need not repeat why those arguments fail here.” 

The Fifth Circuit will now docket the appeal and then review it to make sure they have jurisdiction, says Allie Itami, a partner with Lathrop GPM LLP. Furthermore, if the court questions “jurisdiction because of the interlocutory nature, they might ask the parties to brief whether the appeal is timely.” 

If the appeal does go ahead, the court will “instruct the parties to file a notice of appearance and eventually issue a briefing notice saying when the briefs will be due.”

«