The Labor Department said yesterday that it will propose new ways for financial advisers to comply with its fiduciary rule during its proposed 18-month delay in the implementation of the measure's second phase, Investment News reported. The DOL said that the paused is needed to review the regulation under a directive issued by President Donald J. Trump earlier this year. "More time is needed...to take a hard look at any potential undue burden," the agency wrote in the delay rule proposal, which was posted on the website of the Federal Register. The agency is seeking to push back the original Jan. 1, 2018, applicability date to July 1, 2019, for enforcement mechanisms in the regulation, such as the so-called best-interest contract exemption that allows brokers to charge variable compensation for products as long as they sign a legally binding agreement to put their clients' interests ahead of their own. Other exemptions that would be delayed involve principal transactions and insurance and annuity contracts.
