STATEMENT BY WAYNE CHOPUS, PRESIDENT AND CEO, INSURED RETIREMENT INSTITUTE

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) will announce the final version of the "Retirement Security Rule: Definition of an Investment Advice Fiduciary" regulation. In response, the Insured Retirement Institute (IRI) issued a statement from Wayne Chopus, President and CEO.

"IRI is not optimistic that DOL's final rule will heed the substantial stakeholder input and data indicating that this rule will inflict significant harm on consumers. IRI expects the regulation to reflect similar traits of DOL's failed 2016 rule, which was vacated by a federal appeals court in 2018.

In the brief time the 2016 rule was in effect, it caused millions of consumers to lose access to the professional financial guidance of their choice and to products and strategies to help them achieve a financially secure retirement. We anticipate today's final rule will produce comparable or worse outcomes.

This regulation is the product of a severely flawed rulemaking process and defies applicable judicial precedent and the limitations on DOL's rulemaking authority as established by Congress. Instead of advancing this unnecessary and redundant rule today, DOL should have withdrawn it."

IRI will issue another statement when the rule text is available for review.

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Contact: Dan Zielinski