On February 3, 2017, President Trump issued a Presidential Memorandum requiring the US Department of Labor to reconsider its proposed "fiduciary rule," which subjects many of the investment recommendations from financial advisors to retail retirement clients to ERISA's fiduciary standards and remedies. The Memorandum directs the Department of Labor to prepare an updated economic and legal analysis of the rule to determine whether, among other things, it may adversely affect the ability of Americans to gain access to retirement information and financial advice. Following the completion of the analysis, the Memorandum further directs the Department of Labor to consider whether it is appropriate to publish for notice and comment a proposal to revise or rescind the fiduciary rule. Although the Memorandum does not specifically require the Department of Labor to delay the April applicability date of the rule, some delay seems inevitable. Following the release of the memorandum, President Trump's acting Secretary of Labor, Ed Hugler, issued the following statement: "The Department of Labor will now consider its legal options to delay the applicability date as we comply with the President's Memorandum."
The Shearman & Sterling publication on the Presidential Memorandum is available at: http://www.shearman.com/en/%20newsinsights/publications/2017/02/reconsideration-of-dol-fiduciary-rule; the Shearman & Sterling overview of the fiduciary rule is available at: http://www.shearman.com/~/media/Files/NewsInsights/Publications/2016/04/The-US-Department-of-Labor-Final-Fiduciary-Rule-Incorporates-Concessions-to-Financial-Service-Industry-CGE-041416.pdf; and the text of the Presidential Memorandum is available at: https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/02/03/presidential-memorandum-fiduciary-duty-rule.
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