The securities regulators' association published a request for public comment on tightening rules on broker-dealers.

The North American Securities Administrators Association has proposed amendments to its model rule, including holding broker-dealers and agents to a best-interest standard in addition to limits on the use of the terms "advisor" or "adviser."

The securities regulators' association wants to impose the best-interest requirement in light of the Securities and Exchange Commission's Regulation Best Interest, applying it to recommendations of an investment strategy or the sale or purchase of any security, according to a proposal published by Nasaa on Monday.

The acts and practices Nasaa believes run contrary to Reg BI include excessive trading, unsuitable recommendations, unauthorized trading, overcharging of fees, deceptive or misleading advertising, inadequate disclosures of conflicts of interest, failure to pay arbitration awards, lending or borrowing from clients, revenue sharing without the written authorization of the customer and the broker-dealer the agent represents, and engaging in "forgery, embezzlement, nondisclosure, incomplete disclosure or misstatement of material facts, or manipulative or deceptive practices," according to the the proposal.

The bar on using the term "advisor" or "adviser" would apply to anyone who doesn't have a license as an investment advisor or investment advisor representative, Nasaa said in its proposal.

The amendment is aimed at what Nasaa's Project Group, which made the proposal, believes "is a deceptive and unethical practice for broker-dealers to mislead investors into believing the broker-dealers are acting in a fiduciary capacity with an ongoing duty of loyalty through misuse of the 'advisor' and 'adviser' title."

Nasaa is seeking public comment on the proposed changes until Dec. 19.