Insurance Regulators May Approve ‘Best-Interest’ Annuity Rule By Yearend
November 6, 2019 by Tracey Longo
After years of debate, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners appears poised to approve a “best interest” annuities sales standard by the end of the year.
Up until now, insurance regulators have used a “suitability” standard–similar to Finra’s– to regulate annuities sales. The new “best interest model,” which is being finalized by NAIC committees in rigorous weekly conference calls that include trade groups and industry representatives, would change the sales standard to “best interest” using the Securities and Exchange Commission’s recent Regulation Best Interest as a model.
“If everything falls into place, the model could be finalized by NAIC by the end of the year and we could begin seeing individual states taking it up for consideration in the first quarter of 2020,” said Jason Berkowitz, Chief Legal and Regulatory Affairs Officer of the Insured Retirement Institute.
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