As the securities industry continues to wait for a ruling on a comprehensive fiduciary standard from the Department of Labor, investors are signaling their favor for stricter oversight.
Retirement savers strongly favor tougher oversight of the financial services industry, and most would even be willing to pay more for heightened patrolling of the industry, according to a survey from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.
Three-quarters of respondents support additional regulatory protections; 70 percent said the additional protections would give them more confidence in markets, and 56 percent even said more regulations would encourage them to invest more of their money in markets.
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More than half (56 percent) said they would be supportive of heightened regulation, even if the costs of implementing them were ultimately borne by investors.
Younger investors, age 21 to 39, proved most willing to bear the extra costs of increased regulation; 73 percent would agree to paying more.
Investors age 60 and above are far less interested in paying any more in fees. Only 39 percent support increased regulation if it means more costs passed on to investors.
Support for bearing the costs of increased regulation wanes with wealthier investors; 66 percent of investors with less than $100,000 in the market support more reforms and are willing to pay for them, compared to 48 percent with more than $500,000 in the market.
Most said it was "very important" that brokers are disciplined with fines and suspensions when they break the rules, and they also want all infractions disclosed to the public.
And they definitely want to know when brokers are making trades that benefit themselves more than investors, which the proposed fiduciary standard purports to address.
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Nick Thornton
Nick Thornton is a financial writer covering retirement and health care issues for BenefitsPRO and ALM Media. He greatly enjoys learning from the vast minds in the legal, academic, advisory and money management communities when covering the retirement space. He's also written on international marketing trends, financial institution risk management, defense and energy issues, the restaurant industry in New York City, surfing, cigars, rum, travel, and fishing. When not writing, he's pushing into some land or water.
