The financial services industry has had nearly three full weeks to digest the final fiduciary rule from the Department of Labor, and firms are quickly putting plans in place to comply.
On Tuesday, Cetera Financial Group, a network of independent broker/dealers, launched a new suite of tools and resources to help the firm's 9,000 advisors adapt and thrive in the new regulatory environment. Called DOL DynamIQs, the new platform shows advisors how the new rule impacts their business. It includes iQuantify, a new diagnostic tool that shows how ready an advisor is for the rule and maps out a game plan for reaching full compliance.
Advisors can also use DynamIQs to get an in-depth analysis of their business and identify which assets and accounts will be impacted by the rule. It will also help them create a transition plan for client portfolios not in compliance.
Cetera said it will also provide advisors with a dedicated consulting service to help transition client assets to DOL-compliant solutions as well as ongoing educational materials and webinars detailing the impact of the rule and how to adapt.
In a statement, Cetera President Adam Antoniades said the firm supports the goal of the fiduciary rule but expects it to have a significant impact on the independent advisor business model.
“Up until now, the industry as a whole had been impacted by a lack of clarity on what the DOL fiduciary rule would be and resultant changes it would have on advisors and their practices,” Antoniades said. “Cetera plans to take the lessons we learn through this regulatory transition and apply them towards the development of a range of new technology and service platforms. We hope this will turn widespread industry challenges on their head—challenges such as succession planning and marketing to the next generation of clients—and will help our advisors surmount these obstacles in ways that position them for continued success in the future.”
DOL DynamIQs will be integrated into three of Cetera’s turnkey resources: the Pentameter practice management platform, Connect2Clients advisor marketing communications support platform, and the “90 in 90” advisor transitions platform. It will come at no extra cost to advisors, and Cetera is beginning an immediate rollout.
