While the financial advice industry is still dominated by men, female lawmakers play an outsized role in policymaking that affects advisers. “Women are at the forefront of investor protection and consumer protection debates in Congress,” said Marilyn Mohrman-Gillis, managing director of public policy and communications at the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc.
Although they make up only about 20% of Congress, women are concentrated heavily in battles over adviser oversight as well as a Department of Labor proposal to raise advice standards for retirement accounts.
The House recently approved a bill by Rep. Ann Wagner, R-Mo., that would halt the DOL rule.
In her official bio, Ms. Wagner notes the significant presence of broker-dealers in the St. Louis area she represents. The headquarters of Edward Jones, Scottrade, Stifel Financial and Wells Fargo Advisors amount to “one of the largest clusters of brokerage firms and personnel outside New York,” she pointed out.
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Almost every Democrat stood against Ms. Wagner's measure, thanks in part to the leadership of Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif.
On the other side of the Capitol, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., has been a leading proponent of the DOL rule. Ms. Warren became an authority on bankruptcy as a professor at Harvard Law School. She chaired the oversight panel for the Troubled Asset Relief Program and championed the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Her colleague, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, pushed this summer for an amendment to prevent funding for finalization or implementation of a DOL fiduciary rule. The so-called rider could be attached to an omnibus spending bill that must be approved by Dec. 11 to keep the government running. Meanwhile, Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., promised recently that Democrats will oppose “poison-pill riders.”
When she's not fighting Ms. Wagner's bill, Ms. Waters is one of the leading advocates for strengthening the Securities and Exchange Commission's oversight of advisers. In previous Congresses, she wrote a bill that would allow the agency to charge advisers user fees to fund their examinations.
There is room, however, for bipartisanship when it comes to adviser issues. Ms. Collins and Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., introduced legislation in October to give financial professionals more leeway in reporting suspected predatory activity against older clients.
The percentage of women in Congress is roughly equal to their proportion in the advice sector. Both numbers need to go up, said Amy Webber, president of Cambridge Investment Research. “An 80/20 split on the Hill tells me there's a lot more work to be done,” she said.
