Financial Services Institute Tackles Independent Contractor Rule 

The Financial Services Institute (FSI), the lobbying group for independent financial advisors and firms, has outlined its 2025 advocacy priorities. Key focuses include protecting independent advisors’ contractor status, challenging the SEC’s use of enforcement to shape regulations, and modernizing outdated industry regulations, among other initiatives. 

FSI emphasizes that defending advisors’ ability to work as independent contractors enables them to build their businesses locally, hire staff, set their own business practices, cover operating expenses, and thrive based on their success. 

“We are dedicated to preserving advisors’ choice to be independent contractors and support solutions that offer our members clarity so that they can operate confidently and not waste significant resources defending their worker classification decisions,” the group said. 

FSI also intends to oppose the use of enforcement actions to create new regulatory requirements, a practice known as “regulation by enforcement,” which the SEC and FINRA have long been accused of employing. 

The group stated that its white paper, released last January, outlines specific procedures for the SEC to implement to identify and prevent unfair enforcement practices. 

FSI plans to advocate for modernizing existing regulations, restoring the tax deductibility of advisory fees, promoting the standard of care (a key issue in its opposition to the now-defeated DOL fiduciary rule), and expanding financial education for all Americans.