Knut A. Rostad

About the Author

Knut A. Rostad

Knut Rostad is the founder and president of The Institute for the Fiduciary Standard and is the regulatory and compliance officer at Rembert Pendleton Jackson, a registered investment advisory firm in Falls Church, Va.

Previously, he served on the Financial Planning Association Government Relations Committee and “Best Practices” Task Force. The Best Practices Task Force was created by the Financial Planning Association (FPA), to identify the best practices for the financial planning profession under the new Certified Financial Planner (CFP) fiduciary standard. 
 
Rostad earned a BA in Political Science at the University of Vermont and an MBA from the Norwegian School of Management. He is also an Accredited Investment Fiduciary (AIF) with the Center for Fiduciary Studies, Pittsburgh.

• First Investor Protection Test for SEC’s White: FINO Over Fiduciary?

  By Knut A. Rostad  |  April 16, 2013

  The Institute for the Fiduciary Standard argues that SEC assumptions would usher in the era of the FINO—fiduciary in name only.

• Four More Years? Fiduciary Proponents Need to Regroup

  By Knut A. Rostad  |  January 10, 2013

  To prevent four more years of fiduciary gridlock in Washington, proponents of the fiduciary standard for all need to regroup. Proposed: four steps to change the discussion.

• Is Kitces Right on When a CFP’s Fiduciary Duty Should Apply?

  By Knut A. Rostad  |  December 17, 2012

  Advancing the discussion, Michael Kitces urges the CFP Board to abandon its approach of limiting when a fiduciary standard should apply to certificants.

• CFP Board: Let CFPs Vote on the Future of Financial Planning’s Character

  By Knut A. Rostad  |  November 6, 2012

  The CFP Board should affirm the fiduciary duty's importance to CFPs and welcome a referendum of its designees to determine its way forward.

• The State of Investor Trust, or Distrust, Fiduciary and the CFP Board

  By Knut A. Rostad  |  October 25, 2012

  Is the argument over a fiduciary standard for all advice-givers, and the CFP Board's position on a fiduciary standard for CFPs, missing the bigger point?

• HighTower Advisors: The New Face of Fiduciary?

  By Knut A. Rostad  |  September 26, 2012

  Does any advisor have "zero conflicts of interest?"

• On Dodd-Frank’s 2nd Birthday, Should Investors Celebrate?

  By Knut A. Rostad  |  July 20, 2012

  Individual investors have not witnessed dramatic regulatory changes favoring investors over the past two years, but they seem to be voting with their assets, moving them more toward fiduciary advisors.

• The Times Editorial, Fiduciary Duty and the Levitt Rule

  By Knut A. Rostad  |  July 10, 2012

  What is unethical? Not a broker-dealer that sells proprietary product, but one that just meets fair-dealing suitability rules while simultaneously telling investors that “We always place our clients first.”

• Does Raymond James Support the Fiduciary Standard … in Practice?

  By Knut A. Rostad  |  June 4, 2012

  Raymond James Financial Services' Scott Curtis makes a curious remark on the fiduciary "concept," which seems at odds with departing RJFS CEO Dick Averitt's professed principles.

• JPMorgan, the Dimon Principle and Fiduciary Duty

  By Knut A. Rostad  |  May 29, 2012

  Do JPMorgan's own words on its fiduciary duty meet the higher demands of the Dimon Principle?