June 26, 2013
Re: Harmonization of RIA's and Broker Dealers
Whitnell is an RIA employing 28 people and can be considered a typical small business. I am very concerned that any additional rules for the sake of harmonization with broker-dealer rules would impose additional costs and burdens that would have a serious impact on our business and the way we serve our clients.
In your analysis of harmonization I believe it is essential that the SEC consider the additional hours and costs of imposing new rules and how they would negatively impact both us and our clients in terms of higher costs and less customized service. It is important to consider how our clients would benefit from any of this. I'm unable to see any client benefit to harmonization.
Whitnell's business model is to provide discretionary asset management and financial planning which has little in common with broker-dealers. I believe SEC rules should be tailored to specific industry participants and roles and not arbitrarily applied to different categories of professionals.
The principles-based fiduciary duty with its flexibility to take into account different RIA business models and client relationships has stood the test of time and should not be replaced or duplicated by inflexible prescriptive rules.
Thank you for your consideration.