On June 1, 2017, Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC“) Chairman Jay Clayton issued a statement (the “Statement“) soliciting public comments from retail investors and other interested parties on standards of conduct for investment advisers and broker-dealers. The Statement was, in part, in response to the announcement by the Department of Labor that it intends to issue a Request for Information regarding various aspects of its fiduciary rule and its desire to engage with the SEC as each agency pursues its own ongoing analysis of these standards.

The Statement sets forth an extensive, detailed list of questions and issues on which comments are requested. To facilitate the SEC’s assessment of the issues, the Statement announced that a webform and email box are now available for members of the public to make their views on these issues known in advance of any future SEC action.