Washington, May 23, 2017 -
House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) issued the following statement regarding today’s decision by the Department of Labor on the controversial fiduciary rule:
“I was there in the Oval Office when President Trump signed his Presidential Memorandum on the Obama administration’s fiduciary rule. I don’t see how the Department of Labor’s decision is commensurate with the President’s Memorandum, so I am disappointed. It regrettably appears Obama era bureaucrats in the Department of Labor may have been allowed to overrule President Trump’s wishes. I am especially disappointed for those low and moderate income Americans who rely upon investment advice to plan their retirements. This flawed fiduciary rule means their costs will likely go up and their choices will likely go down – just like with Obamacare. Republicans believe we must preserve access, choice and affordability so Americans who like their retirement planner can keep their retirement planner, which is exactly what the Financial CHOICE Act will accomplish. That’s why I urge the administration to repropose the rule as soon as possible.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Rep. Phil Roe, M.D. (R-TN) released the following statement in response to Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta’s decision to allow the fiduciary rule to partially take effect June 9, 2017:

“The misguided, Obama-era fiduciary rule drives up the cost of investment advice for low- and middle-income investors and makes it harder, not easier, for workers to save for retirement. From the day it was first announced, this rule was a solution in search of a problem. If this is the direction the secretary believes is necessary, I will strongly urge him to expedite additional relief from the rule, and in the long-term, will continue advocating the reversal of this flawed rule. More must be done to ensure Americans can more easily receive the advice they need to adequately save for retirement.”

Dr. Roe recently led a letter of 124 members in writing to the Secretary urging him to permanently delay the rule.

Continue Reading the Press Release HERE

Washington, D.C., May 8, 2017 – NAFA, the National Association for Fixed Annuities, released the following statement today from its Executive Director Chip Anderson:

“NAFA expresses its gratitude to those members of Congress who have signed letters calling for delay of the June 9th implementation of the DOL fiduciary rule.  In separate letters, key members of the Senate HELP Committee led by Chairman Lamar Alexander, Chairman Hensarling with Congresswoman Wagner and Congressman Huizenga and 124 Representatives led by Congressman Phil Roe, have urged the Department of Labor to delay the rule in its entirety.”

“While NAFA greatly appreciates the support from Congress, make no mistake about it, NAFA still appeals directly to President Trump and Secretary Acosta to exercise their authority to stop any part of this Rule from going into effect before the DOL has completed its reexamination of the Rule as called for by the President’s own February 3rd memorandum.”

“If the Rule itself, along with the so-called Impartial Conduct Standards, are allowed to take effect on June 9th, it will be extremely traumatic for our industry, and, worse yet, it will be very harmful to consumers who will lose access to advice and products that are badly needed.”

“NAFA has launched a White House grassroots campaign because we want the Administration to understand the disappointment and anxiety being felt by our membership, which thought President Trump would never allow such a far-reaching excessive regulation to get this far.  We can report over 2000 members have already written the White House, and we anticipate hundreds more will be doing so in the weeks ahead.”

“NAFA feels strongly DOL must examine the Rule in accordance with the White House memorandum because there has yet to be an objective analysis of the Rule’s adverse effects.  In its recent comment letter submitted to DOL, NAFA pointed out the regulatory impact analysis used to justify the rule was flawed in numerous ways, and axiomatically defective because it failed to account at all for the positive effects of commissions in the fixed annuity industry which encourage agents to help consumers purchase annuities as opposed to leaving money in low-earning CDs or riskier investments.”

“We have a little more than a month to stop this runaway train.  NAFA is pulling out all the stops to try to prevent any part of this rule going live on June 9^th.”

Download the Press Release HERE.

Washington, D.C., April 28, 2017 – NAFA, the National Association for Fixed Annuities, released the following statement from Chip Anderson, NAFA’s Executive Director, on the confirmation of Alexander Acosta as the Secretary of the Department of Labor.

“NAFA, extends its congratulations to Alexander Acosta on his confirmation as Secretary of the Department of Labor. We look forward to working with Secretary Acosta and are hopeful that he will bring much-needed leadership to the agency and will direct his immediate attention to delaying the June 9th implementation date of the fiduciary rule.”

“President Trump’s February 3 Memorandum was unequivocal in its directive to the Secretary that his Department conduct a full examination of the rule and to prepare an updated economic and legal analysis of the likely impacts of the rule before moving forward with any implementation of the rule’s new requirements.  The Department’s decision to implement certain parts of the rule on June 9^th – including the new fiduciary definition and the impartial conduct standards – is in direct violation of the President’s order.

“NAFA strongly urges Secretary Acosta to take immediate action to delay the June 9^thimplementation date while the Department conducts its required review of the rule.”

Download the Press Release HERE.

The DOL fiduciary rule will take effect in just four weeks – on June 9, 2017 – unless President Trump acts to stop this ill-conceived rule that will hurt our industry and our clients.  Over 3000 of you have already written President Trump!  But we need many more of you to get letters into the White House.

To those of you who have responded already – a huge THANKS.

To those of you who have not yet responded – this is your chance – it is urgent to act NOW.

We must tell President Trump to stop this unworkable rule immediately.

Make your voice heard now! – Click Here

It is easy to do and can make a big difference.  We need as many of you as possible to deliver this critical message to President Trump.

And please watch for more NAFA alerts on how you can help make sure our voices are heard.

April 17, 2017- In a letter submitted to the Department of Labor, NAFA, the National Association for Fixed Annuities is urging a further delay of the fiduciary duty rule beyond its current June 9 partial applicability date, while the Department completes its comprehensive examination of the rule as directed by President Trump in his February 3^rd White House Memorandum.

View the comment letter here.

March 14, 2017- NAFA has submitted a comment letter to the DOL regarding the proposed 60-day delay of the fiduciary rule’s applicability date. As the comment letter makes clear, NAFA strongly supports a proposed delay to give the DOL time to review significant questions of law and policy raised by the rule and in support of the memorandum issued by the President on February 3, 2017.

View the comment letter here.

February 17, 2017 – NAFA files a comment letter in general opposition to the Department’s Proposed Best Interest Contract Exemption for Insurance Intermediaries. Recognizing that the Proposed Exemption would have devastating effects on IMOs – particularly on small and mid-size organizations, many of which are NAFA members – NAFA’s comment letter addressed, in particular, the arbitrary and unjustifiable $1.5 billion premium threshold and the 1%-of-premium ‘financial responsibility’ set-aside requirement that IMOs would need to meet in order to qualify under the exemption.

View the comment letter here.

WASHINGTON (Dec. 1, 2016) — NAFA, the National Association for Fixed Annuities, announced Tuesday that it has filed an emergency motion for an injunction pending appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The appeal is from an order and memorandum opinion of the federal district court issued Nov. 4 denying NAFA’s application for a preliminary injunction and motion for summary judgement in NAFA’s lawsuit against the Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule, and a subsequent district court order issued Nov. 23 denying NAFA’s motion for an injunction pending appeal.

“We are aggressively moving forward with our appeal of the lower court’s decision, but our immediate concern is to stay the rule’s implementation date set for April 10, 2017. With every passing day NAFA members are incurring excessive and unrecoverable expenses as they attempt to navigate the rule’s byzantine compliance regime. Moreover, we are extremely concerned about how quickly consumers may face an environment in which they no longer have access to the products and professional advice needed to retire with confidence,” said Chip Anderson, NAFA’s Executive Director.

View the complete PDF HERE.

NAFA Will Seek Expedited Review 

WASHINGTON (November 7, 2016) — The National Association for Fixed Annuities (“NAFA”) announced today, following a federal district court decision upholding the Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule, that it will appeal to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.

“We are obviously disappointed by the court’s decision, but we have always assumed this case would get decided by a higher court and we are pleased the issues will get de novo review by the Circuit Court,” said Chip Anderson, Executive Director of NAFA. De novo review means the appellate court will consider the case without being bound or influenced by the lower court’s decision.

NAFA filed its lawsuit last June seeking a preliminary injunction to stay implementation of the rule, which is scheduled to go into effect in April 2017. Judge Randall Moss denied the preliminary injunction and at the same time ruled in favor of the DOL on the merits in upholding the rule. NAFA’s lawsuit, one of four lawsuits against the rule, challenges the DOL’s authority to issue the rule, asserts the rule creates an impermissible private right of action, contends the rule contains unconstitutionally vague requirements that compensation be reasonable, and alleges the manner of adoption of the rule by DOL was arbitrary and capricious.

View the complete PDF HERE