In the world of investment advisors, there exists certain kinds of pay that earn the name "conflicted compensation." We know...it sounds like a paycheck that needs a psychiatrist. Rather, these represent kinds of compensation that might cause some conflict of interest for the investment advisor.
For instance, if an advisor overseeing your retirement account got paid each time they made a transaction, that could lead to a conflict. The advisor would have an incentive to make transactions and might be tempted to churn things a bit just to run up these kinds of payments.
So, in general, "conflicted compensation" is banned by industry standards. However, an exception can be made if the advisor gets a best-interest contract exemption. The goal of the rule is to allow other types of financial professionals, like broker dealers, to participate in retirement investing.
If certain requirements are met, and if the investor signs a document allowing it, a BICE can open up certain kinds of commissions and fees that would otherwise be considered inappropriate.
Related or Semi-related Video
Finance: What is Acting Against Recommen...2 Views
finance a la shmoop what is acting against recommendations hmm
let's say you head to the emergency room with stomach pains the doctor in charge [Man driving fast with stomach pains]
says yep you've got appendicitis but I'm brutally
tired so I recommend you go home well odds are if the doc himself had [Doctor in pain with stomach pains]
appendicitis he'd get someone to take that puppy out stat acting against
recommendations is kind of like that just in the financial world if your
broker tells you to do something he wouldn't recommend for his own [Man discussing finance with his broker]
investments well he has a duty to tell you that he wouldn't do that same thing
in his own case that usually happens when some bonehead tells a broker, hey I
want to bet my life savings on this new IPO well why would anyone act against
recommendations well in the case of the doc maybe he's so tired that he's a [Doctor holding scalpel and falls to the floor]
dangerous menace in the O.R... In the case of your broker well maybe there's
something about your specific situation that makes acting against recommendation
the way to go well as long as they tell you that it's against recommendations
well, they're legally in the cure just don't ask that broker to perform
your kidney transplant [Broker walks into office]
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