US fiduciary rules could clear path for structured products

Five years in the making, the US Department of Labor’s conflicts-of-interest rule has finally arrived, with a promise to overhaul the way in which financial advisers provide investment advice to retirement accounts. Structured product issuers could end up the winners in the revamp – if they play their cards right

US Department of Labor rules will place intermediaries interacting with retirees under a fiduciary duty

If an investment adviser receives a commission payment from an issuer for the sale of a particular product, is that a breach of the adviser's fiduciary duty? For US retirement plans, the answer is yes, but the duty has never applied to intermediaries servicing clients through brokerage accounts.

This so-called loophole is being removed by a new rule designed by the US Department of Labor (DoL), and market participants warn it may have serious ramifications on sales of the most common structured