Wall Street is pushing to derail tougher regulatory broker rules

Wall Street banks are desperately attempting to derail new regulation designed to put tougher restrictions on brokers who advise American's on saving for retirement. Though it is thought to be unlikely that they will succeed, the banks have hope due to a provision being introduced by Republicans with some Democratic support, which would force the Obama administration to give brokers, insurers, and other companies that sell investment products 30 more days to weigh in on the rules before they can be finalised. Even a one month delay could complicate the White House's goal of completing the rules and setting them in stone before Obama leaves office in January 2017. The financial industry has been engaged in a five-year lobbying campaign against efforts to make brokers act in their customers' best interests.

A one-month delay of the broker rules isn't as dire for the administration as bills proposed earlier this year that threatened to withhold any funding for the effort, which is being spearheaded by the Labor Department because it oversees rules for U.S. retirement plans. Still, it would give the financial industry more time to lobby Congress and put pressure on Labor Secretary Tom Perez, who's said current provisions allow brokers to sell products that are too expensive and don't outperform lower-cost options such as investment funds that track stock indexes.