The SEC’s investor advocate, Rick Fleming, has told Congress that one of the SEC’s focuses in the coming budgetary year (starting October 2016) will be the quality of advisor and broker dealer fee disclosures. The SEC is concerned that such disclosures (referencing things like advisory, trailer, administrative, “regulatory,” and custodial fees) are confusing to retail investors who don’t know industry parlance. Broker dealers are likely to be paying extra attention to the quality of their disclosures, not only because of this initiative but because the “best interests” standard under the DOL’s fiduciary rule will take effect in April 2017.  For further discussion, please see the link below.

http://www.investmentnews.com/article/20160701/FREE/160709997/sec-investor-advocate-fleming-targets-fees-charged-by-advisers