Image credit: Massachusetts State House, photo by Daderot via Wikimedia Commons 

By Justin Baer and Jason Zweig

Massachusetts said it adopted new rules requiring brokers to act in their clients’ best interests, staking its claim as the first U.S. state to raise the bar on investor protections since a federal measure was struck down.

Commonwealth officials will impose the new standard on brokers and agents who are licensed by Massachusetts. The new rule is intended primarily to protect in-state investors, said William Galvin, secretary of the commonwealth.

Massachusetts’ new measure will take effect nearly two years after a U.S. Circuit Court struck down the Labor Department’s fiduciary rule, arguing the government overreached by requiring brokers and others handling investors’ savings to act in their clients’ best interest….

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