[Image:  rca-advisors.com]

While President Donald Trump’s move to begin rolling back Obama-era financial regulations, including the fiduciary rule aimed at protecting retirement savers, has left many individual investors wondering what this means for their brokerage accounts.

President Donald Trump opted last week not to delay implementation of the Labor Department’s fiduciary rule on 4/10/17. He did, however, order the Labor Department to review and halt the retirement-savings rule if it determines it conflicts with the administration’s regulatory principles.

Since Friday, both Gary Cohn, director of the National Economic Council, and Sean Spicer, White House press secretary, have said that there are better ways to protect investors and to provide them with investment options. Experts say the order is expected to delay the implementation date.

That said, some firms have already rolled out a number of changes to comply with the rule and are sticking with plans to improve disclosures to investors - regardless of the rule’s fate.

Here are some of the plans and indications on how firms will proceed if the rule moves ahead as planned, or if it is delayed, revised or rescinded:

MERRILL LYNCH.    The firm: (i) will no longer offer IRAs that charge commissions, instead favoring charging retirement savers a fee based on a percentage of their assets; (ii) has rolled out simpler client account statements to offer greater fee clarity;  (iii) is moving ahead with many of its fiduciary-rule related changes, including the decision to no longer offer commission-based IRAs.

MORGAN STANLEY.    The firm: (i) planned to offer both fee- and commission-based IRAs, although the latter wouldn’t offer investors access to certain investment products immediately, such as alternatives like annuities;  (ii) planned on making product pricing changes, such as around commissions;  (iii) plans to continue with its changes even if the rule is halted, specifically around greater client disclosures and changes to its commission pricing.

WELLS FARGO ADVISORS.    The firm: (i) planned to make changes to its commission-based IRA product so it complied with the rule;  (ii) plans to move forward with certain changes, such as heightened supervision of retirement accounts.

LPL FINANCIAL.    The firm: (i)  introduced new commission-based products, such as a mutual-fund-only brokerage account and lowered investment minimums on some advisory products;  (ii) has already implemented many changes – e.g., lowering investment minimums on some of its fee-based account offerings.

RAYMOND JAMES FINANCIAL.    The firm didn’t fully detail its compliance plans, but executives: (i) had pledged to offer clients a choice between advisory and commission-based retirement products;  (ii) haven’t commented on how the firm will proceed following the president’s executive action.

JPMORGAN CHASE.    The firm: (i) said it would follow a path similar to Merrill and only offer its brokerage clients a fee-based IRA, without clearly expressing how it will proceed.

EDWARD JONES.    The firm: (i) planned to no longer offer mutual funds and ETFs in commission-based IRAs;  (ii) raised the minimum on commission-based IRAs to $100,000, while lowering the investment minimum on certain fee-based products;  (iii) has already moved ahead with some changes, such as the lowering of investment minimums on some fee-based accounts.