FDATA in the News

A controversial rule requiring advisers to act in their clients’ best interests when it comes to managing retirement accounts has been ferociously contested, and may soon be dead.

Open banking, powered through Open APIs, puts the consumer, at the center of the financial services ecosystem. In this new, innovation-driven environment, those market players that provide solutions to consumers where they most demand them will flourish, whether they are traditional banks or fintech firms.

While PSD2 was the subject of extensive focus for European banks, businesses, tech firms, and fintechs, these institutions may not be ready for another data initiative, the General Data Protection Regulation, set to come into effect this May. In fact, studies show that less than half of businesses in the U.K are even aware of GDPR, much less ready to comply.

Welcome to the bonus year. Independent annuity agents and the marketing organizations that serve them were against the proverbial wall, blindfolded and enjoying a last vape when the Department of Labor’s (DOL) new secretary, Alexander Acosta, issued a fiduciary rule reprieve until mid-2019. Now, instead of exiting from the annuity market en masse, dazed agents and IMOs find themselves with a new lease on life.

Have you found a financial management app you’re dying to download? Your bank might be withholding your account data from the app.

Yodlee, a financial data aggregator and technology company, hired Allon Advocacy to work on issues relating to consumer financial data, credit reporting, cybersecurity and government rules about fiduciary standards. The company is one of Allon Advocacy’s first lobbying clients. The firm has also signed Freedom Financial Network, which offers loans and mortgages, in addition to debt settlement services.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s entrance into the battle between banks and fintechs over customer information appears to have done something remarkable by largely pleasing both sides.

The Department of Labor’s Fiduciary Rule on retirement advice is taking effect today. After much delay and uncertainty, particularly in the last six months under the new administration, retirement advisors now must put investor interests first when choosing products and determining fees for their services.

The June 9 initial applicability date of the DOL fiduciary rule is here, and advisors tell FA-IQ they’re largely ready to comply with the requirements of acting in the best interest of their clients. But a law firm notes that many advisors have been asking exactly how to comply with the Impartial ICS, which are in place until the rule’s full implementation on January 1, 2018.