Chamber waging lobbying battle over investment rule

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is waging a fierce lobbying battle over the Obama administration’s new rules for retirement advisers.

The Department of Labor’s so-called fiduciary rule would require retirement advisers to act in the best interest of their clients. But the business lobby warns this would raise the cost of investment advice and lead many people to invest on their own, without guidance from a professional.

The Chamber met with White House officials on two occasions last month in an attempt to curb the retirement rule. The business lobby’s chief, Tom Donohue, took part in one of those meetings, along with a team of lobbyists.

“We continue to believe that this rule is going to end up hurting the very people it is intended to protect—hardworking Americans trying to save for retirement,” Andrés Gil, director of the Chamber’s Center for Capital Markets Competitiveness, told The Hill in a statement.

“This complex regulation will make it harder and more costly for small business owners to offer retirement plans to employees, and the result will be lost access to advice and limited choice when it comes to planning for the future,” Gil added. “We need more people saving for retirement, not fewer, and we shouldn’t make it harder for them.”

The group was joined by a number of business interests that also met with the White House last month to oppose the fiduciary rule. They include the American Council of Life Insurers, State Farm, Mass Mutual, Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council, Ameriprise, Capital Group, Primerica, Lincoln Financial, Metlife, Jackson National, and Putnam Investments & Empower.

“This approach is flawed in multiple ways,” the National Economic Research Associates wrote in a letter included in the White House meetings.

The Labor Department sent the rule to the White House’s Office of Management and Budget for final approval in late January, setting off a three-month review that is expected to conclude by the end of next month.