Big Changes Ahead
January 8, 2019 by Ben Mattlin
In the annuities world, where the talk can be inscrutably complex, the buzz on new products and trends for 2019 seems dominated by a single word: simplicity.
Kent Sluyter, president of Prudential Annuities in Newark, N.J., anticipates “a continued demand for transparency and simplicity.” Craig Hawley, head of Nationwide Advisory Solutions (formerly Jefferson National), says, “The right kind of simplified, low-fee insurance products can be a real differentiator.”
This wave of simplification comes even after an appellate court officially “vacated” the Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule last June. Intended to protect consumers by, in part, providing transparency of fees, the ruling would have required greater simplicity in products and distribution. It’s as if a button were pushed, and once carriers began creating more straightforward fee-based annuities—as opposed to the traditional commission-based products—they couldn’t stop. Full disclosure and the elimination of even potential conflicts of interest kept gaining traction.
“You’re going to see the industry continue to move toward overcoming complexities,” says Sluyter.
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