In The seven
tactics unhealthy industries use to undermine public health policies
https://theconversation.com/the-seven-tactics-unhealthy-industries-use-to-undermine-public-health-policies-81137?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=twitterbutton
we learn how health industry participants undermine public health policies.
While many of the health industry techniques are slick, we still think
the Canadian investment fund industry lobbyists are world class. Some
examples of the methods used:
·
Hire senior regulatory staff promoting reforms
· Lobby Minister of Finance to come down on regulators
·
Attack independent empirical research
·
Attack the researcher that created the independent
research
·
Fight independent research with industry
funded research
·
Have former regulators publicly condemn reforms
·
Divert attention towards better disclosure or financial
literacy
·
Use fear mongering- Small advisors will be left to
fend for themselves
· State that retail Investors will be scared away if
details on fees are fully disclosed
· Claim that regulatory reforms could cause a shortage of advisors
·
Boldly assert that trailer commissions do not
skew recommendations- the Big Lie
·
Claim that there is no convincing evidence that
indexing has an advantage over active management
· Argue that Targeted reforms are good enough - no
need for a Best interests standard
· Suggest that small investors need comprehensive guidance on
taxation and estate planning
· Imply that mutual fund "advisors" ( registration
is actually salesperson) provide holistic planning
· State that advice is free with mutual funds
·
Support freedom of payment scheme choice for unsophisticated investors
·
Use gross dollars "saved" as a metric to
justify advice
· Claim that the value of conflicted advice is
over 3% of assets
·
Argue that similar problems in other
jurisdictions are different
· Let media know who pays the advertising bills
· Claim that greater advice integrity will make
advice unaffordable for the mass market
· Assert that rural communities will lose
access to advice
· Rip into robo advisors
· Support political candidates that are
industry-friendly
Let us
know of any other approaches so we can keep the list up to date.