CFP Board backtracks on fiduciary stance

In an apparent reversal, the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc. on Friday said that all certificants who provide financial planning services should be held to the duty of care of a fiduciary.
In the second draft of its proposed changes to its code of ethics, the CFP Board also said that certificants “shall at all times place the interest of the client ahead of his or her own,” regardless of whether financial planning services are provided to the client.
An earlier version of the standards, which was released in July, gave certificants the option of opting out of a fiduciary role.
In addition to a web-based survey to gather feedback on the latest proposal, the Denver-based CFP Board will host an open-
dialogue webcast March 30 and accept comment letters through April 25.

Jobless rate dips to 4.5%; fewer jobs
The nation’s unemployment rate dropped to 4.5% in February even though employers added only 97,000 jobs to their payrolls, the Department of Labor reported Friday.
Last month’s jobless rate marked a slight improvement over 4.6% in January. The unemployment rate has hovered between 4.4% and 4.6% since September.
Meanwhile, the number of jobs created in February marked a sharp decline from 146,000 the previous month.

Senate mulls changes to tax regime
The Senate Finance Committee is considering changes to tax rules that could more than double the tax rate for hedge funds and other private-investment pools, said published reports Friday.
Much of focus is on the so-called carried interest, or performance fee earned by an investment pool’s general partners. The committee is reportedly considering whether performance fee revenue should be taxed as high as 35%, instead of 15%.

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