• By NU ONLINE NEWS SERVICE

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has posted the regulation it will use to withdraw a regulation that could have classified many indexed annuities as securities.

The SEC tried in January 2009 to issue a regulation, Rule 151A, that would have given it the ability to share jurisdiction over the products with state insurance regulators, just as it shares jurisdiction over variable annuities.

Producer sellers engaged in a vigorous effort to oppose the regulation in Washington.

Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, helped them get a provision classifying indexed annuities and many other products as insurance products, rather than as annuities, and, on July 12, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued an order vacating the rule.

The SEC now has posted a version of the Rule 151A “final rule withdrawal,”  along with a request for comments on any paperwork burden that the withdrawal might cause, on its website.

The withdrawal notice has not yet appeared in the Federal Register. It is set to take effect on the Federal Register publication date.

– Allison Bell