"[T]he proposed standards for brokerage firms and broker-dealers ... are clearly NOT a 'best interest' standard, and calling them that will certainly mislead consumers into thinking that sales agents are required to put their interests ahead of the sales agent's and the firm's, when in fact they are not.... [T]he Proposal mixes a lot of high-minded language about doing what's best for the customer with specific standards that are no more high-minded than FINRA's existing suitability rules. There's a lot of talk about what brokers and sales agents 'should' do, but the actual standard as written doesn't actually require anything different from what is going on now[.]"  MORE >>