President Obama is expected to speak to AARP on Monday afternoon to discuss retirement-related issues, according to multiple sources familiar with the speech.
{mosads}Obama’s remarks come as his administration has put new emphasis in recent weeks on considering regulations, dubbed “fiduciary standards,” for the financial advice industry that are vehemently opposed by the business community.
A senior House staffer and two financial services industry sources each said they expect Obama to discuss the new regulations, which administration officials are expected to move ahead with any day.
Department of Labor (DOL) officials, backed by progressives and groups like AARP and the AFL-CIO, are pushing for more disclosure requirements for financial advisers. They say the new regulations are needed to stop financial advisers from pocketing commissions by selling bad advice to unsuspecting Americans.
Business groups — emboldened by some centrist Democrats, Republicans and the Chamber of Commerce — argue that the regulations would radically change the industry’s payment structure. Those changes would serve as a disincentive for financial advisers to serve low- and middle-income Americans financial advice.
In January, Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Jason Furman co-authored a memo for senior White House officials indicating they were moving ahead with the controversial regulations, as was first reported by The Hill at the time.
On Friday, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Commissioner Daniel Gallagher criticized Obama and DOL officials for how they’re pursuing the new fiduciary requirements.
“To be blunt, the White House memo is thinly veiled propaganda designed to generate support for a widely unpopular rulemaking,” Gallagher said Friday at a forum in Washington.
Labor officials failed in 2010 to instate the new regulations because of the opposition from the business community.
Representatives for the White House and AARP declined comment.