WASHINGTON — House and Senate conferees meeting to hammer out a financial regulatory reform bill appear to have reached an agreement that would allow the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board to regulate financial advisers and other market intermediaries.
House conferees, led by Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., last night backtracked from their preference of giving the Securities and Exchange Commission authority over these advisers. In exchange for agreeing to the Senate proposal to give the authority to the MSRB, however, they insisted that Senate conferees include language in the final bill that would impose a fiduciary duty on the advisers, requiring them to hold their clients’ interests ahead of their own.
Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., this morning seemed to go along with Frank’s call for such a provision, but said that section of the bill needs additional work that may not be done until next week.
