Tag: Annuities

Sources say the House Ways and Means Committee will likely vote to advance the Securing a Strong Retirement Act of 2021, often called a follow-up to the SECURE Act, as soon as tomorrow afternoon.

The state’s Insurance Department Rule 82, which may soon be updated to match a suitability framework recently adopted by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, seeks to address conflicts of interest among annuity providers and their proxies.

Each type of annuity available to defined contribution plans has different features to match the goals of plan sponsors and participants.

In the current market environment, safe assets simply do not pay what they once did, but that doesn’t mean annuities have become less attractive. In fact, on a relative basis, annuities currently make a lot of economic sense. 

The defense has prevailed on technical grounds in a lawsuit that argues plan sponsors should be required to use fresh mortality and interest rate assumptions when converting between the standard and alternative forms of annuities to be paid out by a pension plan. 

A registered representative of NEXT Financial Group is accused of manipulating key figures and data used to monitor sales of real estate investment trusts to certain client groups, allegedly rendering the monitoring efforts “meaningless.”

The state is following in the footsteps of Iowa, which earlier this month adopted a regulation to require annuity agents to act in the best interest of their customers.

“Iowans expect their financial professional to act in the consumer’s best interest when recommending an annuity,” says Iowa Insurance Commissioner Doug Ommen. “Iowa not only expects it, but we will require it.”

The new rule permits variable annuity and variable life insurance contracts to use a summary prospectus to provide disclosures to investors.

The U.S. stock market has entered bear market territory after its record bull run; one silver lining is the opportunity to educate people about annuities.

Notably, the proposed revisions to the Suitability in Annuity Transactions Model Regulation would provide a safe harbor for firms and producers that comply with the SEC’s Regulation Best Interest.