US Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and SEC Adviser Rules (17 CFR Part 275) ia5248-scope: Apply the fiduciary duty across the whole relationship as the scope agreed with the client defines it, with disclosure of any limits

Release IA-5248 (effective 12 July 2019) restates the Commission's reading of section 206: an adviser is a fiduciary; it owes care and loyalty, and the two together require it to serve the client's best interest and never subordinate the client's interest to its own. The duty cannot be waived, but its application turns on the scope of the relationship: a retail client with a discretionary account and an institutional client with a narrowly defined mandate are owed the same duty applied to different services. Contract terms that purport to waive the duty, or hedge clauses that would mislead a retail client about unwaivable rights, are inconsistent with the Act. Where the adviser limits the scope of its advice (a single asset class, a single account), the limitation must be clear and the duty applies within it.