The financial services community was hoping the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) would give it a holiday gift -- clarification of how its fiduciary standard would work in the real world.

Instead, SEC Chair Mary Schapiro came through with only a "stocking stuffer" -- a teaser of what's to come.

She told Bloomberg News the agency will issue a rule sometime next year that would be "business model neutral" and allow reps working with broker/dealers to sell proprietary products and receive commissions.

At first glance, this would appear to be good news for reps selling securities and insurance products tied to securities through broker/dealers.

But the devil is in the details. They will make all the difference in how financial advisors are regulated.

Will they be clear and concise? Or will they be "loosy-goosy" and open the way for a multitude of lawsuits? Will they simply makes provision for commissions and proprietary products? Or will they redefine "fiduciary" as "enhanced suitability" with opt-out provisions?

Will they incorporate the core of the fiduciary standard -- putting clients' interests first -- and, if so, what if a competing product is better for a client than an advisor's proprietary product?

The Dodd-Frank financial "reform" law gives the SEC explicit authority to issue rules for all financial advisors that currently apply to investment advisors; i.e. the fiduciary standard. But, in what could be seen as a contradiction, the law also says commissions and proprietary products do not "in and of themselves" presumptively breach the fiduciary standard.

Dan Barry, the Financial Planning Association's (FPA) government relations manager, summed up the SEC's challenge:

"What is important," he said, "is setting up rules that allow for proprietary products and commissions while making sure investors are getting advice that's in their best interest."

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