‘Fiduciary’ term finally catches on - just as the GOP threatens to change retirement-savings rule.

After years of trying to promote to investors the “fiduciary” role of financial advisers  - their services and codes of ethics – it appears that the public is finally catching on. And all it took was the new fiduciary rule promulgated by the Labor Department, which requires financial advisers and brokers to act in the best interests of their clients when dealing with retirement accounts. It doesn’t affect nonretirement accounts.

Notwithstanding the reality of U.S. politics and the likelihood that the new rule will be repealed or delayed by the incoming Republican-controlled Congress and White House, the rule has had an impact – perhaps one that is lasting. 

The rule’s goal is to prevent brokers from operating under the “suitability” standard of conduct, which allows brokers to recommend investments that pay them the highest sales incentives. Since the government cleared the fiduciary rule this past April, the concept has had something of a star turn.

• Several financial-services firms have started featuring the term - or its definition - in their marketing campaigns.

• The concept was the unlikely focus of an episode of HBO’s “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver,” a popular news-satire show that airs on Sundays.

“Generally, it is currently legal for financial advisers to put their own interests ahead of yours, unless—and this is interesting—they are what’s called a ‘fiduciary.’ Because not all financial advisers are bound to act in your best interest, but fiduciaries are, which is a bit weird,” Mr. Oliver explained. More than 11 million viewers have seen the episode.

• Internet searches for information about the term have surged. 

“I think there is a real opportunity for us to start talking about being a fiduciary and embracing it, even if it is a wonky term.” And even if it doesn’t make its way into the broker-dealer rulebooks.