After nearly nine years of debate, on June 5, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted its long-awaited rule governing the standard of conduct for broker-dealers when recommending securities to retail customers. At only four pages long, Regulation Best Interest (Reg. BI) itself does not initially seem daunting, but once one digs into the nearly 800 pages of guidance on how the SEC interprets Reg. BI, the layers of complexity become apparent, and certain key themes develop.
This article ran in the July 2019 issue of Wall Street Lawyer, a Thomson Reuters publication.